I am sorry to hear about your flood, but am glad everything seems to have worked out.
I had a vacant house, too busy to clear it out to sell, but had a friend that was thinking about buying it. He stayed in it a while while hiding from his ex (not for child support, just because she gets off her meds from time to time). Apparently right after he moved out, somebody broke in, vandalized the place, which included cutting the king size waterbed matress. Not really all that much damage, but since the house was vacant, with the heat set at 50 just to prevent freezing and not on a/c which is what was needed. Fast forward a month or so and I go over to pick up some stuff, trying to empty the house out so he can buy it. Find the back door standing open, and a mess. Worse thing was the mold. Called the insurance company, and we toured the house. I asked if I could remove the carpet and underlying parque wood floors in exchange for my deductible. He said fine, and after he left, I started removing carpet. He showed back up 10 minutes later, and called me to the front door, telling me to stay out of the house. Called a company to come take care of the mold problem and the next time I entered the house was when all the interior walls had been cut two feet from the floor. Whole house was wiped down, and they had constructed a clean room in the front room, to wipe down anything that came or went. New walls, new carpet (paid me for the parque floors) and everything in the house was replaced except things that were "sentimental" as there were some pictures and other stuff that I refused to let them trash. I saw over forty thousand dollars in ependitures, but never did see the bill for the cleaning company and crew, so figure that one out (3 weeks work). Once the house was finished, I sold it to my friend at the price we agreed upon before the "rebuild". He was tickled pink, and so was his insurance agent that had somebody inspect it before they would agree to insure it.
I was completely satisfied with my insurance company, who failed to try to get out of it, dispite it being borderline as to wether or not they were acually legally required to pay off due to the time frame the house stood empty. The fact that the new owner had stayed there seemed to be good enough for them and if they questioned him, they didn't let me find out. A few months later I was called over to "look at something" which the new owner thought might be mold growing, but it turned out to be something quite innocent instead.
I could have sold the "better than new" house for more, but since my friend had been willing to wait, I sold it to him and never looked back. It could have turned out much worse in several different ways, so I am glad it worked out like it did.
David from jax