Residential Claims
What can be covered by your homeowners insurance?
There is a laundry list of items that can be covered by your homeowners insurance as well as numerous things that are excluded. Lets focus on what can be covered on a sudden and accidental basis.
- Natural Disasters (Hurricane Claims, Tornado Claims, Flood Claims, Wind Claims, and Storm Claims)
The world we live in is going through extensive environmental changes. Stronger storms and changing climate just to name a few. These stronger storms include stronger hurricanes impacting the southeastern United States, tornadoes popping up more frequently and lasting longer than many storms have in previous years, and extreme straight line wind storms. The change in temperature has created droughts and flooding on an enormous scale that we have not dealt with previously. These types of natural disasters may be covered by your homeowners insurance. - Hail Damage
Hail has been a very common in the climate of the United States. Almost daily there are reports of small and large hail across the country. Hail can be very destructive to roofing, siding, windows, solar panels, etc. During a large hail event these ball shaped pieces of ice can get up to 8” in diameter. This would certainly destroy many items of your home, vehicles and personal property. Smaller hail events though not as visibly destructive can lower the life span of a roof by removing granules and causing small fractures of the shingle itself. Hail storms are responsible for extensive damage across the country each year. - Fire and Smoke
Fire and smoke damage to properties are becoming less common with the modern electrical codes that are in place but there are still a number of other ways that fire and smoke damage can occur in your home. Wildfires, kitchen fires, and electrical fires are a few of the ways a fire could start in your home. These fires can be very damaging to the items they are in close contact with but the smoke damage could be even more extensive as smoke finds it ways into every corner and crevice of the home even areas that were very distant from the fire itself. When fire and smoke effect a home proper remediation from a restoration company is necessary to get the home properly cleaned and safe for its inhabitants. Smoke damage can be even more extensive than you think and proper evaluation is critical to your health in the event of a fire and smoke event. - Theft
Theft can occur to anyone in any community. This is when someone breaks into your home and takes items that belong to you when you are either home or away. Anytime you add a new expensive item or piece of equipment to your home make sure to take a picture of it in your home to document its existence in your personal property. This is the proof that is was there and can be critical in a claim for stolen property. - Vandalism
Vandalism is when a third party deliberately destroys your home or causes damage to your personal property. This could be a number of things including graffiti on your home, a brick thrown through your window, or could be part of a theft of items in your home. - Water
Water is one of the most prevalent causes of loss to a home. While running water and modern plumbing are great conveniences, they often at some point will cause extensive damage to your home. This could be caused by a burst pipe, toilet overflow, kitchen sink trap leak, garbage disposal failure, sewer backup, etc. In the event of water damage first find out where the water is coming from and address the source of the leak. This may need to be handled by a plumber but many items can be handled on a do-it-yourself basis.
Any of these types of claims can occur in your home at any time. Call us at United Public Adjusters at 855-944-3473 for a review of your claim and policy to help maximize the payout of your claim.