MOLD In Our Home! I Need Advice!!

Most mold isn't worth freaking out over. Did you know you pretty much ALWAYS have mold in your house? I didn't know that until recently. And most of it isn't harmful.

You had water damage, mold is to be expected. Repairing the damage will take care of the mold.

We had a leak in our bathroom last year that caused mold in our bathroom. We had to replace all the affected drywall, re-tile, repaint, put new flooring in, etc. Good to go now.

Sorry you're having to deal with this. :(

I don't have any mold advice, but let me give you some general insurance advice. Whenever possible, have a contractor out to look at damages before you file any claim. Don't have the repairs made, just get an estimate. I work in insurance and I can guarantee you that most people overestimate the amount of damages they have. Myself included. I had a plumbing leak and water damage I figured would run $1000 to fix, but only cost $200. Insurance isn't going to pay to replace a roof when you can repair the damaged area. Insurance won't pay to paint an entire room if only one wall is damaged. If you get a contractor out and their estimate is much higher than the insurance company's estimate, ask for a second inspection with your contractor present. That isn't a guarantee you will get more money as there is an industry standard the insurance company will pay, but it will get you a second review of your claim. How much more did you pay to have the other hurricane damages repaired? You could still ask your insurance company to look at receipts and see if they will pay the difference.

For the mold claim, I would wait to file a claim until you get these three estimates. You may want to call your company and ask a hypothetical question (you don't want them filing another claim until you are sure) to see if mold discovered from the hurricane would be subject to a second deductible or if would still be covered from the first claim. If subject to a second deductible, make sure the damages will be enough over your deductible to be worth it to file a second claim.

Catherine knows a lot about this stuff, so I'd listen to her.

LivTokyo has lots of good advice, but I'm curious about her comment that soap and water will do a better job than bleach. That's just not true. I clean mold with bleach all the time. It is true that mold spores are in the air and probably all through the house as Nikki said. I just learned about mold shooting its spores into the air in Biology class.

Stinks to have mold, sorry you're going through this. The reason the insurance is so high for this is because it's very very very likely you are going to have mold all the time. Living in a water bound state, on 3 sides, it's very likely they are going to be dealing with mold in your home at least every couple of years so they have to cover the projected highest amount it might cost. They have to get the money from somewhere...

I hope this will get them to pay for it to be cleaned up.