1 /5 B CM: On July 16 2025 I noticed a small discolored area on the drywall above an interior door. I asked a contractor to look at it, and when he felt the area he said it appeared to be damp. He suggested cutting the ceiling sheetrock to investigate, and when he did we found the area between the lower and upper levels of the house to be wet, with excessive moisture and the presence of a āsuspicious growthā. Due to its relative containment, my contractor said that it appeared that this issue had only recently happened and that the damage could almost certainly be repaired. The fact that there was only a single location of discoloration from the moisture on the living side of the home also pointed to a recent occurrence of the problem.
My agent called Spangler Restoration for an inspection. They quickly assessed the situation as excessive condensation from the metal HVAC ductwork. The combination of the excessive heat and humidity following Tropical Storm Chantal nine days earlier, and the higher eļ¬ciency of our recently installed heat pump, resulted in the ducts āsweatingā excessively, causing much of the insulation to literally fall oļ¬ of the ductwork, exposing it completely to the hot and damp air and thus causing the condensation we discovered.
My assigned adjuster (well call him John Smith) informed me that an additional inspection would need to be performed. When I asked why, since one had already been performed by a licensed Restoration company that was chosen, sent for, and paid by a State Farm representative, he said that āState Farm Corporate is a separate company from the local representativesā, and would require their own assessment. (He actually used these words.) The technician arrived Tuesday July 29 concurred that that water damage was caused by sweating ductwork, a phenomenon he said he sees āall the time during summer in North Carolinaā.
In spite of the fact that three restoration professionals all agreed that the issue was a recent event, my claim has been denied, twice. In the ļ¬rst denial notice, Smith said that the damage was the fault of my HVAC installer, because he had not inspected the ductwork before installation, and he referenced a portion of the NC Mechanical Code to bolster his claim. I pointed out that Smith must not have read it in its entirety, since it clearly states that inspection is not required in crawlspace or ceiling cavity areas.
Mr. Smiths response deserves to be quoted, as itās almost as absurd as his misreading of the mechanical code. He begins by admitting not critically reading his own reference: āI apologize for missing that fact. It does seem the condensation was occurring in the ceiling cavity and not the attic space. Regardless of the area where the the condensating [sic] ducting is located this would still not be a covered loss due to the fact that it has been occurring over a period of months dating back to last year. This can [be] evidenced by concentric dark water stains in the ceiling cavity, rust on the ducting, and microbial growth.ā While I cannot speak to the āconcentric circlesā (nor can I see them), his reference to āmicrobial growthā is particularly ridiculous: at this point State Farm had let this situation languish for nearly 2 weeks during one of the hottest and high-humidity events on record: of course thereās microbial growth. Nor do I see any rust on the ductwork, though the presence of rust on 60 year old ducts wrapped with insulation in a ceiling cavity would be unsurprising and proves nothing. And even if there was any evidence of the damage he quotes, how he could equate its source to ādating back to last yearā deļ¬es logic. How, I ask, did he arrive at ālast yearā? When Smiths ļ¬rst excuse to deny coverage failed because he hadnāt done his homework, he simply and clumsily dredged up another on the spot.
State Farmās woefully incompetent and devious adjustors have performed abominably throughout this entire process and should be severely sanctioned, if not dismissed outright.