One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is “Does renters insurance cover water damage?” and “Does home insurance cover water damage”. Today we’ve decided to provide answers to both of these questions in order to make it easier for our clients to deal with any water damage issues they might face.
In Which Cases do you get Insurance Coverage from Water Damage
What everyone cares to know about insurance coverage and their home protection is in which cases they are going to be covered. With the aging state of plumbing infrastructure in San Francisco, water damage to pipe bursts is a common occurrence, which is why we see a surge in service demand, especially during the colder months of the year.
In general, there are several things which are covered in your standard home owner’s insurance and those are:
- Damage to property due to pipe bursts;
- Damage to property due to washing machine malfunction;
- Property damage due to faucet malfunctions.
However, it should be noted that the standard home insurance DOES NOT cover flooding damage. By flooding damage, insurance companies refer to any sort of water damage that comes from the outside of the property such as:
- Acts of God;
- Sewage back-ups;
- Ceiling and roof leakage;
- Neighbor pipe bursts;
- Neglect of personal plumbing.
In order to receive flooding coverage and to get any sort of water damage, regardless of the source or reason for the damage, you would need an additional insurance policy. Most insurance providers would be happy to provide this additional policy for an additional fee.
How to get insurance to pay for water damage
The second most important part of this discussion is how to get your insurance to pay for the damage. There are several things which need to be done in order to have your insurance cover the damages, and they involve a professional water damage restoration company in San Francisco like GCDRestoration.com.
What we do to help you get your insurance to cover the damages is we come and provide an estimate of the damages and how much it would cost to restore those damages. There are circumstances where your insurance will cover the repair of the damage from water, but not the actual source.
If your washing machine malfunctions and it leaks on your hardwood floor, your insurance will cover the repairs on the floor, but not cover the replacement washing machine.
In order to get your insurance to cover the damages, the following must happen:
- Call us for a free water damage estimate;
- Send a water damage insurance claim to your adjuster;
- We send the estimate to your insurance adjuster;
- The provider may send an investigator to check and see what the source of the damage is;
- Once they’ve established the reason for the damage we get the green light.
In case your insurance company does not provide the required coverage for the service, it is still possible to get the water damage restored and repaired at a nominal fee. It is also possible for you to dispute the insurance provider’s decision in case you can prove that the damage was not cause due to personal neglect or outside sources.
