Working With Insurance After Water Damage

When your Eagle home suffers from water damage, your first concern is your family’s safety. Your second question is, “Will my homeowners policy pay for this cleanup?”  It’s not always easy to figure out when water damage is or isn’t covered by your policy because the distinctions are so fine. Review your policy with your insurance agent and work with a water damage restoration team that is very familiar with the industry, like Red Truck.

When Does Homeowner’s Insurance Cover Water Damage?

Many factors contribute, but in general, homeowners insurance may help cover damage caused by leaking plumbing if the leak is sudden and accidental. This means the water damage must be the result of one of the 16 perils covered by homeowner’s insurance, such as sudden and accidental tearing, cracking, burning, or bulging of a steam, heating, AC, or automatic fire protection system.

When You’re Covered by Your Policy:

Rain or snow storm

Plumbing: Burst pipes, frozen plumbing, faulty plumbing, accidental overflow

Water damage from extinguishing a fire

A leaking roof (coverage would extend only to the home interior, not the roof itself)

An accidental overflow of an appliance or fixture (toilet, washing machine, bathtub)

Mold (only when it’s the result of covered water damage)

Vandalism

When Is Not Covered?

However, normal policies do not cover damage resulting from poor maintenance. Standard home insurance policies almost never cover water damage from storms, over-saturated ground, overflowing bodies of water. (Depending on your location, you may be able to purchase a separate flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program.)

Some policies exclude water coming from a failure from a sump pump, although you may be able to purchase a special coverage ‘rider’ that will pay for this situation. Some policies do not pay for a sewer backup that is caused by an obstruction in the pipe outside of the home or if the sewer backs up due to a problem with the city or other sanitary service provider.

Does “Covered” Mean It Is Free To Me?

Not quite. Residential insurance policies have what is called a deductible or co-pay. This is where you will pay a preset amount of money to correct or repair the covered loss before the insurance company will begin to pay. This amount may be as little as $100, or more than $1,000. And although most policies will cover the damage caused by unwanted water that is released in your home, they rarely cover the repair of the item that caused it.

Reputable, knowledgeable water damage restoration firms are not insurance representatives and cannot interpret your policy, but they can help you to meet your obligation to ‘preserve and protect’ your home and contents from further damage.

Remember, your insurance company wants and expects you to take reasonable efforts to keep the situation from getting worse. Arrange for a qualified firm that specializes in water damage restoration in Eagle ,like Red Truck Response to come out and assist you in your emergency protection efforts.

 Red Truck Disaster Response in Eagle

Red Truck Disaster Response is a local, family-owned, company providing emergency restoration services to Boise and the surrounding communities. We provide fast emergency response for all property disaster emergencies. With open communication, they help their clients work with insurance companies to restore their lives after a disaster.

For water damage cleanup in Boise, contact Red Truck Disaster Response. After thousands of insurance claims, they understand insurance claim coverages and will partner with your adjuster to make ALL the repairs to return your home to pre-loss condition.