Ah spring, the season of love. Unfortunately, that is not the only thing that comes with the spring season. Spring is also one of the most common times to see flooding.  Flooding can cause large amounts of damages to your home, property, and can be very dangerous to you personally as well. Most general homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover floods.

                A common phrase used around spring time is “April showers bring May flowers”. Sometimes, not only do those showers bring flowers, they bring flooding too. Large amounts of rainfall often cause flooding, as lakes and rivers overflow their boundaries. Not only that, but with large rainfalls, the pesky droplets of water will do their best to find every breach in your home’s supposedly water tight defenses. When a few droplets find that one weak spot, they will all begin flowing through, potentially leading to large water damages. Your homeowner’s insurance policy might not cover these damages. Make sure to patch up any cracks or holes in and around your house that came up during this winter season!

                Now some of you are telling me, “Cracks or holes in or around my house? Impossible! I just fixed up the place last summer!” After a cold winter season, water can freeze in places around and on the house, mainly around the foundation, that puts pressure on the building as the water expands in the freezing process. As it expands and contracts due to melting and freezing again, the water puts more and more pressure on the building. After continual pressure, eventually the house will begin to deteriorate, and small slits and gaps will begin to form. If you do not find these damages now, before next winter comes, you could risk the problem getting even worse. Every year that you do not fix any cracks or holes that show up due to winter weather, they will most likely get larger, as there is more room for water to expand in. All of this can lead to more flood damage if not fixed. Make sure you talk to your homeowner’s insurance agent or contact us to find out more about this situation.

Am I covered?

                On top of the possible flood damages due to nasty winter weather, the unfortunate news when it comes to homeowner’s insurance is that most of the possible homeowner’s insurance policies out there do not cover flooding. While some water damages are typically covered, large scale flooding and or maintenance issues are not. Another thing that a large portion of homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover is replacing the source of the water damage. While your insurance policy may fix the floor damage, they might not cover your washing machine, or whatever broken appliance that might have broken and leaked the water.

                Because of what your homeowner’s insurance policy may or may not cover, it is even more important to make sure that there is never an issue in the first place. Fixing and taking care of some small issues that may appear after the winter months may save you a bundle in possible future damages that your homeowner’s insurance might not actually cover.

 Need more information?

                For more information about flood insurance, what is covered, what is not covered, and more, you can either check out our post about flood insurance at http://www.wetzel1.com/news/2013/08/flood-insurance-what-you-should-know, or contact us by stopping by our office, emailing us at mail [at] wetzel1 [dot] com, or giving us a call at 574-267-6183.