What water damage is covered?
What water damage is covered under my homeowner’s policy and what additional coverage should I consider?
It’s raining. Again. If water damages my home is it covered? Well it depends on how the water damage occurred.
What water damage coverage is automatically included with my homeowner’s policy?
Water damage caused by something sudden or accidental (such as a burst pipe) inside your home, your home insurance policy will generally coverage the damage.
Water damage caused by wind driven rain (via roof or walls).
My floors started to buckle in the kitchen and we discovered it was due to a slow leak from the refrigerator that we never saw. Am I covered?
Coverage for slow leaks – often called Seepage and Leakage coverage is not automatically covered by your home insurance policy. Speak to your insurance advisor about purchasing additional coverage for seepage or leakage coverage.
It rained so much that the water started entering my house from my patio. I even have a sump pump and it failed and now the water from my back patio is coming into my home.
Unfortunately, there is no coverage for this type of loss. Since flood insurance only covers floods by the definition below, this wouldn’t be covered by the home insurance policy or a flood policy. We strongly recommend that if you have a drainage issue on the exterior of your property that could cause water to enter your home that you invest in a French drain or similar system that will move the water away from your home to avoid this problem.
But what if I live in a low-lying area and have flood insurance?
Per the National Flood Insurance Program (includes private insurers) in order to be considered a flood, it must meet the following definition:
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (one of which is your property).
Water coverage is tricky, talk to your insurance advisor about your needs and concerns.
Photo by Sourav Mishra