The Murray Group is located in Albany, New York. (For those of you not familiar, Albany is the Capital New York State and is located about two and half hours north of New York City, so the Northeast United States). It rains and snows a lot here. Water damage to homes and dwellings is a big concern and must be properly accounted for when building an insurance program.
How Water Gets Into a Home
There are four ways that water can get into your home:
- From Above: Water from above includes rain, snow, melting snow and pipe bursts.
- Flowing Over Foundation: Water entering your home in this fashion is known as a Flood.
- Seeping Through Cracks in Foundation: Water under the surface of the ground seeping into the basement through cracks in the foundation formed from old age, wear and tear, or settling of the home.
- Up Through Pipes, Drains, or Sewer: Back-up in pipes causes overflow of water or sewage into the home and basement.
Insurance Against Water Damage
Here are your Insurance defenses against these types of water damage losses:
- From Above: Almost all scenarios where water from above damages your home are covered under a Special Form homeowners or dwelling insurance policy.
- Flowing Over Foundation: For damage caused by water flowing over your foundation down into your home you will need a Flood insurance policy.
- Seeping Through Cracks in Foundation: Unfortunately there is not an insurance policy or coverage (at least in NYS) that will provide protection against this type of loss. The only coverage option you may have is an Earthquake or Earth Movement policy if the cracks result from such a loss.
- Up Through Pipes, Drains, or Sewer: There is a specific endorsement to you homeowners or dwelling insurance policy called Water-Backup and Sump Pump Failure which needs to be added to your policy to cover this type of loss. This is not standard on homeowners or dwelling policies. It must be added.
The Rub
The Rub is simple, risk prevention is your best weapon against water damage to your home or dwelling. This takes diligent and attentive maintenance to your property. Water is a building’s worst nightmare, from my experience worse than Fire. So make sure you take the proper precautions to ensure that these types of water damage losses are less likely to happen.
Thank you.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Welcome to The Murray Group Solution Center
If you have additional questions regarding insurance or if you would like to discuss and receive a quote for a insurance policy use the link below:
Contact Murray Group Insurance Expert
If you prefer to call our office number is – (518) 456-6688
You can also connect with The Murray Group further on The Murray Group Facebook Page.
If you are not quite ready to contact us about your insurance but enjoyed and/or found the information in this post useful we would very much appreciate you posting a review on:
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposely only. There is no legal advice being suggested or proffered and the author assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions taken or not taken by the readers based upon such information.