Affordable Homeowners Insurance Florida | Your homeowners insurance is designed to protect you and one of your most significant investments, your home, against unforeseen perils, damages and losses. Your homeowners insurance can protect you at home and even away from home against things like fire, storm damage, theft, and accidental injury to others.
What many homeowners don't understand is that, while their house may experience damage, there's a distinction between unforeseen damage and the kind of damage resulting from neglect or the natural aging of components of your home.
Some examples to illustrate the difference:
A vicious storm tears off shingles, damaging your roof and possibly some rooms in your home with rain and hail. That unforeseen damage is covered by your homeowners insurance. Conversely, if a roofer goes up on your roof and finds that the flashing around your chimney has been allowing water in, damaging the surrounding roof, this kind of wear and tear would not be covered, because monitoring and maintaining your roof's integrity is up to you as a homeowner. However, the ‘sudden and accidental’ damage to the interior may be covered.
If you are moving furniture and someone inadvertently backs into your sliding glass door, breaking it, replacing the door would be covered by your homeowners, along with any medical expenses for the unlucky mover if they are not a resident of the household. Say that same sliding glass door developed an undetected leak that, over time, damaged the floor, walls or deck around it. Such damage would not be covered by your homeowners policy.
A freak windstorm uproots the oak tree in your front yard, sending it into your porch roof. Your homeowners insurance would cover that unforeseen event. If that same oak tree sends roots into your sewer pipe, eventually clogging it to the point that your home floods with sewage; then that damage is not covered, because making sure your home's drainage systems are free from obstruction is maintenance that is up to you as a homeowner.
Similarly, your roof getting older and needing to be replaced is not a sudden unforeseen event, but a maintenance issue. Replacing an old roof is not covered by homeowners insurance. Roofs of every material have life spans, and eventually have to be replaced as part of routine home maintenance. Many homeowners are surprised that replacing their aged, possibly leaky roof is not covered by their homeowners policy.
An adjuster can quickly make a distinction between age-related wear and storm damage simply by inspecting the roof, the flashings and your ceilings or attic. The signs of roof age are telltale, and include curled or missing shingles or shakes, cracked or broken tiles, buckling, dry rot or moss, signs of prolonged water damage, stains, damaged stucco, and debris, to mention a few.
As you can see, understanding the difference between a sudden and accidental loss from the natural aging of your home is very important. Taking care of your home will help prevent damage and protect your family! Check back next week for a blog on the 12 home maintenance checks every homeowner should know.
For more information on affordable homeowners insurance Florida, please visit us online at aiicfl.com or find a local agent here!