Your homeowner’s insurance policy should cover sudden water damage due to a plumbing malfunction or broken pipe. But, most home insurance policies do not include destruction to your home that occurred slowly, such as a slow, constant leak, or damage due to regional flooding.
Also, some damage, such as mold, may be excluded from your standard policy depending on the cause. However, extra coverages can be added as voluntary riders.
Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Water Damage from Leaking Pipes?
Plumbing failures, such as a burst pipe or ruptured water heaters, are likely covered in your insurance policy. There are three different clauses in your homeowner’s insurance policy that may provide coverage if your house has water damage:
- Dwelling coverage: Your policy’s dwelling coverage clause protects the structure of your home, such as its roof, walls, and flooring. If a covered leak damages part of your house, or if you have to remove a part of your wall to repair leakage, your dwelling coverage will refund you. Dwelling insurance also covers damages done to your home’s built-in appliances like your water heater.
- Property coverage: Your plan will compensate you for any property, such as clothing, TVs, and furniture, that’s destroyed through plumbing damage. However, luxury items may only be covered up to a certain amount, unless you add an optional rider to your policy.
- Additional Living Expenses (ALE) coverage: ALE coverage will refund you for hotel, travel and food costs if you have to leave your home while plumbing issues are being fixed.
How Does Homeowner’s Insurance Work?
If water starts pouring out of your washing machine while you’re away, it could compromise the safety of your wooden floorboards. Water could then drip through the floor and destroy the walls or ceiling below.
After you call to submit your claim, an insurance adjuster will come to your home to evaluate the extent of the. If the cost to repair or replace your flooring, molding or ceiling is $3,000, and your home insurance policy includes a $1,000 deductible, your insurance company would pay the $2,000.
What Is Plumbing Damage Not Covered by Home Insurance?
When you open a claim, your homeowner’s insurance company will send an adjuster to assess the cause and cost of the accident. They will look for:
- The location of the pipes
- Whether any of the damage is from an old or new leak
- Whether there are any signs of decay, such as corrosion, that should have indicated a possible leak
- Whether the leak is simply the result of old age or rigorous wear and tear
The adjuster will use these to determine if you could have stopped the leak before your home was damaged. If they conclude that you could have, they may deny coverage.
To ensure that you’ll never be denied coverage, proper maintenance for your plumbing is necessary. Of course, proper maintenance includes tune-ups too! If you’re in the Omaha-area, trust ASAP Appliance & Plumbing. For more information, feel free to visit our website or call us at 402-706-9931.