Homeowners Insurance Endorsement
Water Backup Coverage is Important Add-On Protection for
Your Home and Personal Belongings
If water or sewage backs up into your home, it can quickly become a messy situation. A standard homeowners insurance policy typically does not cover the extensive damage this type of backup often causes to your home and belongings. Instead, you would have to take care of the cost of clean-up, repairs, and replacing ruined items. Below, the Fred C. Church team shares information about one of the most useful home insurance endorsements, called Water Backup Coverage, which may help you pay for expenses related to this type of loss.
Coverage Highlights
What does a Water Backup endorsement cover?
These unpleasant backups can occur for many common reasons, including a heavy rainfall that overwhelms a drainage or sewage system, unruly tree roots that get tangled in a sewer line, debris or other items that clog up a drainage pipe, or a mechanical breakdown of your sump pump. Regardless of the cause, when a backup drives water and sewage into your home, it can lead to tens of thousands of dollars in damages to floors, walls, furniture, electrical systems, and more.
Water Backup Coverage provides homeowners with protection against water damage to their home and personal property if the water or sewage backed up, discharged, or overflowed from:
- A sewer or drain
- A sump, sump pump, or related equipment
- Any system designed to remove subsurface water from the home’s foundation area
Often, when water infiltrates a home, mold issues may quickly follow, so Water Backup Coverage typically also covers minor mold damage that is the result of a water or sewer backup.
In addition, if the reason for your sewer water backup is that the sewer line between your home and the city’s main line is damaged, Water Backup Coverage typically helps you pay for the line to be repaired, as well as the removal of standing sewage from your home, up to the coverage limits stated in your endorsement. Like many homeowners, you may not have realized you were responsible for the maintenance of the underground exterior sewer lines on your property. Now that you are aware these lines are your concern, isn’t it also nice to know there is an endorsement that can help you in taking care of them.
Coverage Exclusions
What situations are not covered by a Water Backup endorsement?
When investing in any insurance coverage, we want to make sure homeowners understand what will not be covered so they can make a more informed buying decision. Water Backup Coverage is typically not going to provide financial protection against damages or repairs if a water or sewage backup in your house is due to a faulty or damaged plumbing system or if it has happened gradually over time because you’ve failed to properly maintain your home’s equipment.
In addition, while the Water Backup endorsement typically covers expenses related to fixing water damage caused by a sump pump backup, it will not pay to replace the sump pump if it is broken. However, if you’d like to cover all your bases by getting insurance for a failed sump pump, as well as other essential mechanical equipment in your home, a Fred C. Church professional would be happy to speak with you about the many valuable reasons you may also want to add a Home Systems Protection endorsement to your homeowners insurance policy.
Affordable Protection
How much does Water Backup Coverage cost?
The amount you may pay for Water Backup Coverage is primarily based on the coverage limit you choose, which typically starts at $5,000 and can usually be increased by increments of $5,000 up to the full replacement cost of your home. In most cases, the additional homeowners insurance premium for this endorsement is minimal, ranging from about $50 to $250 a year. This is a small percentage of the out-of-pocket costs you would have to pay for the expensive clean-up and repairs after a loss if you didn’t have Water Backup Coverage.
The Fred C. Church team is a knowledgeable resource if you have additional questions about this endorsement or want us to check if your current home insurance company offers Water Backup Coverage. This insurance option is more worthwhile than ever because water damage resulting from backed-up drains and failed sump pumps has become one of the most common homeowners insurance claims, due in part to aging sewer systems and increasingly extreme weather patterns. Please contact us today for assistance with protecting your home, belongings, and wallet with Water Backup Coverage and other beneficial home insurance endorsements.
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