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Water damage -homeowners insurance
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Posted by old87green (My Page) on Fri, Nov 3, 06 at 14:32
What we thought was a minor leak issue is turning into a huge expense -it's not just a question of opening the dry wall and drying, we now have to take out and replace cabinets, granite counter tops.....Very expensive. So we're going to have to submit to the insurance company.
Anything we need to be aware of before doing so? Any tips?
The contractors believe that our minor leak is actually a slow leak that has been around for a long time -hence the extensive damage.
Thanks for all thoughts.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Water damage -homeowners insurance
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| Your insurance won't likely cover a slow leak that's been around for awhile. Insurance companies look at that as neglect on your part. If it is paid, you'll like get a diminished settlement. |
RE: Water damage -homeowners insurance
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| And remember that if you even call your agent about it, it can adversly affect your insurance policy. People on the 'net have been discussing how some insurance companies now use insurance scores to determine potential risk. This uses your credit score and the past history of making claims on your homeowners insurance - or previous owners of your home's past homeowner's insurance claims - to set your insurance rates. Every time you use your insurance, you risk having your rates go up or your policy cancelled. So always read your policy before calling your agent to find out if you are covered for a claim. Plan to use your insurance only for catastrophic claims and increase your deductible to at least $1000. Make it $5000 if you can afford to. Using your insurance for small claims will drive up your costs, so save money by having a high deductible and then have a savings account to use to make repairs under $5000 -or to pay the deductible on large claims. I had along-term leak in a roof that was fixed shortly after I moved into my last house. 10 years later, I had that part of the house remodeled and the ceiling was replaced. The contractor found that the roof rafters there were rotting. Two were rotted through - as was the header between this former porch arera and the kitchen. We were lucky that it had not collapsed. Since it was a long-term, slow leak, it was not covered by homeowners. The agent gave me this way to figure out if something is covered: If it happend slowly after time, it is a regular repair, no insurance involvement. If you can name a date in which an event happened (the August 12th windstorm), it may be covered. Best of luck in repairing your home. I hope you have the opportunity to do some updates (even just extra insulation) while you are tearing things apart. |
RE: Water damage -homeowners insurance
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I had two sewer backups the first year I owned my home. Not a huge amount of water damage, but enough that I called my insurance company. Everything got cleaned up, but I probably could have done about as good a job myself, it just would have taken longer. Long story short, while they didn't cancel my policy they did cancel my water damage coverage for a period of 3 years. This was even after I sent them the plumber's bill for diagnosis and resolution of the problem, and after a year of no problems. They didn't care, they just cancelled. They were good enough to eventually reinstate the coverage, but it taught me not to file a claim unless it was
a major, major problem. Good luck to you! Abbey
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RE: Water damage -homeowners insurance
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| How did the water damage the granite counter??? |
RE: Water damage -homeowners insurance
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| LOL! That's what jumped out at me too! Granite has been getting wet for centuries...... |
RE: Water damage -homeowners insurance
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| My insurance company has never canceled anything on us and we had 2 water problems in our basement. I use it when necessary. I wouldn't use it for a broken window, but do use it for water damage. |
RE: Water damage -homeowners insuranzxcce
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| Wanted to add, water problems can cause mold problems, so I want a professional to do the clean up. |
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