Are Crumbling Foundations Covered by Home Insurance?

Are Crumbling Foundations Covered by Home Insurance?

Your foundation is truly one of the most important parts of your home. It keeps the property stable and level. Therefore, damaged or deteriorating foundations can make your home quite flimsy and insecure. A damaged foundation can damage all other components of the home.

It is perfectly natural for a home to settle and for the foundations to crack from time to time. In many cases, these losses aren’t anything to worry about. It is when these damages become severe that you might need to take action. However, whether home insurance will cover these damages might depend on a few different factors.

When does home insurance not cover foundation damage?

Your home insurance will not often cover foundation damage. Homeowners policies are designed to cover unexpected or unavoidable household damage. Generally, this definition does not apply to many of the more common causes of foundation damage.

Soil erosion, pest invasions, age and poor construction are among the leading causes of crumbling foundations and the resulting household damage. In most cases, these are hazards that occur over a long time, and you generally have a chance to prevent these incidents through regular household maintenance tasks. General wear and tear will also not have coverage.

However, if you feel that the cause of the household damage might very well have been unpreventable, then you might be able to file against your home insurance.

To get a better idea about whether your foundation damage will have coverage, ask yourself a few questions:

• Could you have prevented the damage?
• Was this damage related to normal wear & tear? Did it occur due to lack of maintenance?
• Did this problem occur slowly, or was it sudden?

These are only general ways to determine if your home insurance covers your foundational damage. However, it never hurts to call your insurance agent to determine how it will help you out. They might be able to work with you to determine better ways to achieve this coverage.

When will my plan cover foundation damage?

When you call your home insurer, they might be able to tell you when your plan will cover foundational damage. Some of the situations where you might have coverage include:

• A gas explosion or fire damages the structure.
• A burst pipe floods beneath the home.
• Severe weather causes the home’s foundation to shift.

Generally, this coverage will only kick in if this hazard causes the damage, rather than causing existing damage to worsen. Plus, a few natural causes of foundational damage, namely floods and earthquakes, generally don’t have coverage from home insurance. You will likely only be able to buy this coverage through separate coverage.

Your agent is more than happy to work with you to determine the best way to insure your home against foundational damage. If there are ways they can help you expand your coverage, then they will be more than happy to do so.