The country is in the middle of a few storms right now. There will be freezing weather for about 120 million people in the U.S. soon because of a polar storm that could last for weeks.
At the same time, Los Angeles is still dealing with the destruction caused by six wildfires that spread quickly thanks to the Santa Ana winds.
Climate change is causing a lot of damage, so it makes sense to wonder what would happen to your home if it was damaged in a natural disaster. What will happen next?
The answer is in your home insurance policy, but the truth is that the basic plan doesn’t cover everything. In fact, you could be in a lot of trouble in a lot of situations that are out of your hands.
In the next part of our Home Buyer’s Guide to Home Insurance, we’ll talk about some things that most standard plans don’t cover. In the end, don’t count on your insurance company to pay for everything that goes wrong.
It is important to have home insurance.
Most home insurance plans cover accidents, natural disasters, and some types of crime. Things like hail and wind, dog bites, theft and damage, snowstorms, and broken pipes come to mind.
But don’t get too confident—your home insurance might not cover every bad thing that happens. It usually covers a number of common problems that can happen in a home.
Typical home insurance plans cover and don’t cover certain things based on the specifics of your policy. And, despite what you might think, each policy is different.
Some insurance plans are very different from one another, like snowflakes. Ashleigh Cloud Trent, an insurance agent in Dallas with Swingle Collins and Associates, says this.
A lot of people have been talking about fire insurance and how many people in California who lost their homes in the Palisades Fire were not able to get specific fire coverage.
But there are times when you’ll need to get extra insurance, especially if you live in a “zone” where disasters are likely to happen.
Does home insurance cover floods?
Yes, your insurance should cover the “flood” if it’s just a puddle of water from a broken pipe.
But if the flood is caused by too much rain, a storm, or a river that is too full, most home insurance plans won’t pay for it. FEMA says that flooding happens when there is too much water on usually dry land that affects two acres or more of land or more than two properties.
Amy Danise, chief insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor, says that many homeowners don’t know that flood damage isn’t covered by most home insurance plans.
“This is one of the worst things a homeowner can do, especially since many parts of the U.S. are experiencing floods.”
Natural disasters like floods and earthquakes (more on that below) can do so much damage that private insurance companies either can’t afford to cover everyone or will only offer expensive policies to a few homes.
Luckily, the federal government has stepped in and is now the main company that sells flood insurance.
This extra flood insurance is something you should get if you live in a place that floods a lot. This is especially important because flooding usually costs a lot to fix—on average, damage from just one inch of water can cost $25,000. Don’t buy a house in an area that is likely to flood without it!
Does your home insurance cover big storms and landslides?
You’ll need to get extra insurance here too if you live in a place that has earthquakes.
You can get special earthquake insurance from most insurance companies, or if you live in California, you can buy it from the California Earthquake Authority. This makes sense because most Californians live within 30 miles of an active fault line.
Your insurance company might give you a discount or even a check back if you make changes to your home that make it more resistant to earthquakes.
Now, collapses might be covered by your earthquake insurance, but it might not be. You might also need to get landslide insurance through a Difference in Conditions (DIC) cover.
But, once more, you should talk to your insurance company about it.
Does home insurance cover water damage?
It relies on. Damage from slow leaks, which are officially called “seepage and leakage,” may not be covered. Trent says that water harm has to happen “suddenly and by accident.”
“One client’s contractor cut a pipe behind a wall as a great example.” “No one saw the leak because the pipe was connected to a guest bathroom that wasn’t used very often,” he says.
“After renting the house out for years, the tenants called a few months later to say that the floorboards were bowing.”
The slow leak did $25,000 in damage, but the homeowner’s insurance didn’t pay a dime.
Does mold coverage come with home insurance?
It depends on what made the mold show up. If mold grows because of a “covered peril,” like water damage from a water heater that bursts or firemen putting out fires in your home, your insurance might cover it.
But mold won’t be covered if it was caused by things that aren’t covered by your insurance, like flooding (see above), or problems that can be fixed over time, like a slow water leak or high humidity.
Does home insurance cover clogged sewers and drains?
The drain might back up and flood your home. You may have to clean up the mess yourself, and pay for it.
Trent says that pipes and drains can back up into people’s homes in many places when it rains a lot. There are some rules that don’t cover that.
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