Home Insurance: Certain water losses could be potentially uncovered by your home insurance policy

   When you are shopping for a new home insurance policy, or doing a review of your home insurance policy with your agent there are few water specific coverages you may want to consider endorsing onto to your home insurance policy. Certain ground and sewer water losses can be a non covered loss on a basic home insurance contract, and separate coverage could potentially need to be endorsed onto to your home insurance policy in order to guarantee coverage.

1)   Sewer and sump pump overflow is a coverage that is often times over looked, but can prove to invaluable in terms of having your home insurance policy cover losses to major household item stored in your basement. Homes that are built on a slab foundation, or split level homes, as opposed to a basement should pay particular attention to this coverage as the backup will occur not in your basement but on your first floor living space.

2)   Groundwater not generated by the overflow of a sewer or sump, but instead generates and enters the home at the surface level needs to protected by a flood insurance policy. Ground water generated losses are excluded on almost all home insurance policies, but can easily be covered by buying a separate flood insurance policy through your agent. Homes located in designated flood plains will of course carry a higher premium, but for homes located outside of the designated flood plains these policies can be relatively inexpensive.