Homeowners insurance is not something you should ever go without if you own a home, because it offers a lot of different types of protection for your home and the things you own. One part of home insurance that can be confusing, though, is the way it works when water damage occurs in your home. While every policy and every insurance company may be different, most policies work in similar ways, and here are a few things to know about how home insurance typically works with water damage.
What Water Damage Is
The first thing to understand is what water damage is and what it consists of. Water damage occurs when water leaks in a home. The water might only leak in one area and be a small amount, or it could be a huge amount of standing water that is stuck inside your home. When water enters a home like this, it has the potential to cause a lot of damage.
Standing water can first of all damage your personal belongings and your carpet. It can also damage the drywall on your walls, and it could even cause structural damage to the wood inside your walls. Water in a home also has the potential to lead to mold and mildew problems in your house, and this is especially true if the water is not removed and cleaned up right away.
Minor water damage can cost a lot to fix, but major water damage can be extremely expensive to fix. If your home gets damaged by water, the damages might be covered by your home insurance, or they might not.
What Home Insurance Usually Covers And Doesn't Cover
To determine if your homeowner's insurance will cover the damages caused by water in your home, you must first look at how the water damage occurred. In other words, what caused the water to enter into your home and cause the damage? The answer to this will determine if your home insurance will cover the costs for repairs or not.
Water damage that is typically covered by home insurance is the type that occurs from a sudden issue. This could be damage that was caused by a water pipe freezing up, a toilet that was inadvertently left running, or water damage that occurred from a major storm that caused shingles to blow off and left leaks in your roof. These are all situations where home insurance will typically cover the costs of water damage repairs.
There are also situations when water damage is not covered with home insurance. The perfect example of this is when it occurs from a flood. Most home insurance policies do not offer flood damage coverage, but you can buy a rider for this purpose. A lot of people do not buy these policies, though, because floods rarely occur in many areas.
Water damage repairs will also not be covered if they occurred from a lack of maintenance. If you had a leaky pipe that you did not fix and it eventually caused water damage, the insurance company is not likely to offer coverage for the repairs. As a homeowner, you are responsible for maintaining your home, and problems that occur from a lack of maintenance are usually not covered by home insurance policies.
If you ever experience water damage and are not sure if your policy covers the costs of repairs or not, you can call and ask your insurance company. If you have not yet experienced water damage but want to protect yourself in case you ever do, you should contact your home insurance company to make sure you have a sufficient amount of coverage for this purpose.
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