Is sewer backup covered?
What about flood?
Personally, I do not often sell a home insurance policy without it being a "Comprehensive" perils policy (All Risk, All Perils, Special Enhanced Perils are terms sometimes used to describe this type of coverage) very often. And, I seldom sell a home policy without sewer backup (sometimes called a water extension endorsement) being added. The following information assumes that you have both comprehensive coverage and sewer backup on your policy.
Both of these coverages should be prominently displayed on your policy. If you can not find reference to them on the declaration page of your policy you may want to check with your insurance adviser to confirm coverage is in effect.
Following are the most prominent water damage problems.
1. Water which escapes from a plumbing or heating fixture is insured. Whether your hot water tank were to burn out and start leaking or you discover that a water line suddenly started leaking on your dishwasher causing damage to the floor and cabinets. Maybe your toilet bowl cracks and starts leaking while you are at work causing damage to bathroom and the living space below it. Maybe you leave water running in a bath tub or sink and it overflows. All of these things are sudden and accidental and would be covered.
On the other hand, if you discover the leak at your dishwasher and never bother to fix it because it was "just a drip" the insurance company would likely deny a claim for repairs because it was neither sudden or accidental, it was a maintenance issue from their perspective. If the leak was hidden and undetected by you for some time it would likely be covered. This hidden leak scenario has happened to more than one homeowner I insured and each time the insurance covered the loss.
In another situation a homeowner went on vacation and the outside garden hose ruptured (it was left turned on and was not leaking when they left as it had a hand nozzle attached). For 8 days it ran full blast. Eventually it washed out a huge hole against the house and water started pouring into the house though the wall and window. The damage was extensive. The neighbor heard it but did not investigate? This loss was covered, but the insurance company wanted to deny the claim because they termed it seepage through the basement wall. The real cause of loss was the rupture of the hose which is covered.
2. Not that there are many water beds these days, but if you were to have one burst or begin leaking suddenly (in the 70's this happened with amazing frequency), or your hot tub or above ground pool capsizes and floods your basement the insurance company would provide coverage. Yes, I had a homeowner who's outside pool burst and I was surprised at how much damage it caused. The pool was only about fifteen feet from the basement window. and as luck would have it, not only was the basement window open but the pool capsized at just the perfect spot. (8500 gallons of water is a lot of water).
3. You come home and discover your basement has two inches of water in it because the pump in the sump was not working and caused water to overflow the sump. This would be covered provided you had the sewer backup coverage endorsement. The key part of this is the escape of water from a plumbing fixture.
There are exclusions in your home policy that exclude breakdown, wear and tear, and faulty design, etc. What you really want to know is the resulting water damage covered? Yes, it would be covered. You would be covered for the damage caused by the water, but you would have to pay for the repairs to the sump pump.
4. The plumbing freezes up because the heat goes out (furnace breaks down or the power is interrupted such as would occur if a breaker blows) causing burst plumbing and often extensive water damage. We hear about this happening from time to time to owner occupied homes. I have only dealt with one owner occupied claim in respect to frozen water lines in my career and it was big claim.
This happens far more often to rental homes as tenants sometimes leave in the middle of the night without telling the landlord, and turn off the power when they leave. Also, landlords tend to be less diligent in checking their premises often enough when the home is unoccupied or vacant.
During the heating season, as a homeowner, you must take extra care in making sure that your home is looked after in your absence if you want coverage for frozen water lines. You have an obligation to have a competent person check your home daily if you leave your home unattended for 4 days or more (some policies state 10 days). How competent does he have to be? How likely would it be that someone was checking your property ever day and it got cold enough in the home to freeze the plumbing? The insurance company will deny a claim like this if you have not made arrangements to have someone check your home. In vacant homes this coverage is excluded. Often, the policy will request that the person checking the premises has to enter the home on a daily basis.
If you do not have someone checking your property as required you could drain the plumbing system so if heat was lost there would be no damage to the system.
5. Water that backs up from your sewer line would be insured as long as your policy states that sewer backup is included.
6. A heavy rain causes flooding in your neighborhood and water flows through windows and doors and floods the basement. Regrettably, this is not covered under the normal home insurance policy. Fortunately there is a disaster relief program in place in Alberta and Saskatchewan that will help. See my earlier post. Disaster Relief As it stands now, there is no coverage offered for this in Canada.
7. A windstorm blows a bunch of shingles off your roof and water causes extensive damage to the home. This is insured. Yes, both the shingles and the resulting water damage is insured. Even if there was no apparent damage to the shingles the damage would be covered since it is storm related. If the roof was leaking before the rain then there is going to be some questions asked and coverage is likely to be denied.
8. A bank of ice and snow accumulates along the roof edge during the winter and when melting occurs the water backs up under the shingles causing water damage to the interior of the home. Provided you have comprehensive coverage you would be covered but you must have comprehensive coverage. This is much more prevalent in coastal areas like BC and the Maritime's where heavy wet snow is common. Freezing temperatures then form a crust on the snow preventing the snow from blowing off the roof. The build up can be quit dramatic and will take a long time to melt off when the weather warms. If you have a low slope roof the concern for this type of water damage is much more pronounced. Don't forget that the roof structures in Alberta and Saskatchewan are not designed like they are in BC and the Maritime's so during those freak storms where a lot of heavy wet snow falls building collapse could occur. This is also covered under your home insurance policy.
9. Seepage through basement walls and foundations is fairly common. This usually occurs when weeping tile becomes obstructed, landscaping allows water to accumulate alongside the house, or down spouts do not discharge water far enough from the house. All of these situations cause excess ground water that puts far greater stress on the systems designed to keep your basement dry and can overload them. Water will find an exit, somewhere so any cracks or holes in the basement wall is likely the first entry point. If the weeping tile is plugged then water will come in around the footing at the bottom of the basement wall. There is simply no place for the water to go. These types of losses are not covered under your insurance policy.
Many of these problems can be prevented, however, once the weeping tile becomes plugged and non functional it is likely that the problem will persist and you will be dealing with a damp basement. It is important to keep the ground water movement to a minimum by making sure proper drainage practices exists.
MAKING A CLAIM AND GETTING THINGS BACK TO NORMAL
The quicker you act the less problems you will have.
First step is to get the affected areas dry as fast as possible. The longer the water remains the more chance that mold will become a problem and the more damage that will occur to your home and belongings.
Call a plumber or restoration company immediately. Begin to remove any items that could be damaged by a further rise in the water. Clean up expenses will be paid by the insurance company, provided your policy covers the loss,. If you are unsure of the loss being covered get a plumber to determine the cause as soon as possible. You can do the clean up yourself. If you do you can request an allowance for the work you do from the insurance company so keep track of the hours you work on clean up.
A plumber is not likely to do clean up or general repairs. He will determine what happened and repair the problem.
A restoration company will record the conditions when they arrive, clean up the premises and remove items that could be damaged, start drying out and removing the excess moisture in your home, and provide a quotation to repair the damaged property.
Call your insurance company or agent and file a claim as soon as possible.
Call your agent for advice. Your agent is your unbiased source of advice, use it. Ask questions as to how your policy should respond, what is covered and how. If it is a large loss it may be a good idea to review the claim with your agent and get his opinion on the fairness of the settlement.
Delays in getting the property repaired often occur so be involved in the process. Adjusters often allow a time period following a request for information from anyone. When that information arrives they will review your file. But, if that information is not received it may be thirty days before they look at your file again. We call this an abeyance. Many adjusters have a 30 day abeyance. So if they requested a quote from a contractor but the contractor did not get it done it will be thirty days before they look at the file again. They will contact to the contractor and request it again and the fill goes back into abeyance. Well you get the picture.
If quotes are required check back with the contractor to make sure the adjuster has received them. Contact the adjuster once you know they are completed to get him to commit to allowing the repairs.
Of course, the contractor may not be able to get there right away, so it is important to get a commitment from him as to when it will be completed.
As you can see the process can be stretched out and weeks turn into months.
If the work is extensive and will create an unsafe environment you can request that the insurance company pay for a hotel room or other accommodation while the work is completed.
Excellent Information
Kingston Utilities
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