bryanmatthews77
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CO
Hi. We had a hail storm with 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" hail last September, and are in the midst of an insurance claim. Some items were denied today, which is why I'm here.
We have 5 large patio slabs, concrete, in our back yard. Although they must be quite a few years old (pre-dating a hot tub that the prior owners clearly had on a couple of them), they had no spalling at all until this past winter. Now they are covered in spalled areas and look terrible, not to mention walking on them wouldn't be fun and the spalling will now only get worse with time.
It is no coincidence this occurred the winter following the hail storm; even the adjuster said as much.
However, he then went on a spiel about how concrete should be either 2500psi or 3000psi and how could a small hail stone cause such damage, etc etc. Of course, I'm considering that an impact zone as large as 1/10" x 1/10" would then still require only 25lbs of impact force to fracture, and you can make than impact zone even smaller if you wish - I'm not educated in the details of a hail/concrete collision, but that's not even the point I'd like to ask about. He was annoying me though being that I'm a mechanical engineer and I was listening to the logic he must normally throw at others all day. That said, I haven't sat in a lab throwing ice balls at concrete and there are more variables than I'd want to try to list here and I've no clue what the fracture strength of ice would be in its various stages of freezing.
So here's my real question:
He said that our concrete had a manufacturing defect. I dont' know; maybe it does according to some. But even so, does it matter and what standards apply? The concrete has withstood every other form of abuse that must have been thrown at it over the years. Even if our concrete had a fracture strength of just 1500psi compared to the 2500psi he claims typical concrete should have, does that mean insurance doesn't have to cover it? How can I find out what standards insurance would apply to this situation and if it should be covered? My counter point would be that insurance is covering many other items (roof, siding, personal property, etc) none of which are composed of 2500psi concrete.
Sadly, I was at a real disadvantage attempting any debate today, not only being unprepared, but that I had a crying, sick 2-year-old with me the whole time.
Thank you for any insight.
Hi. We had a hail storm with 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" hail last September, and are in the midst of an insurance claim. Some items were denied today, which is why I'm here.
We have 5 large patio slabs, concrete, in our back yard. Although they must be quite a few years old (pre-dating a hot tub that the prior owners clearly had on a couple of them), they had no spalling at all until this past winter. Now they are covered in spalled areas and look terrible, not to mention walking on them wouldn't be fun and the spalling will now only get worse with time.
It is no coincidence this occurred the winter following the hail storm; even the adjuster said as much.
However, he then went on a spiel about how concrete should be either 2500psi or 3000psi and how could a small hail stone cause such damage, etc etc. Of course, I'm considering that an impact zone as large as 1/10" x 1/10" would then still require only 25lbs of impact force to fracture, and you can make than impact zone even smaller if you wish - I'm not educated in the details of a hail/concrete collision, but that's not even the point I'd like to ask about. He was annoying me though being that I'm a mechanical engineer and I was listening to the logic he must normally throw at others all day. That said, I haven't sat in a lab throwing ice balls at concrete and there are more variables than I'd want to try to list here and I've no clue what the fracture strength of ice would be in its various stages of freezing.
So here's my real question:
He said that our concrete had a manufacturing defect. I dont' know; maybe it does according to some. But even so, does it matter and what standards apply? The concrete has withstood every other form of abuse that must have been thrown at it over the years. Even if our concrete had a fracture strength of just 1500psi compared to the 2500psi he claims typical concrete should have, does that mean insurance doesn't have to cover it? How can I find out what standards insurance would apply to this situation and if it should be covered? My counter point would be that insurance is covering many other items (roof, siding, personal property, etc) none of which are composed of 2500psi concrete.
Sadly, I was at a real disadvantage attempting any debate today, not only being unprepared, but that I had a crying, sick 2-year-old with me the whole time.
Thank you for any insight.
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