You see the evidence of mold in your home and your first thought may be, “Does home insurance cover mold in Salt Lake City?” You’re concerned about getting rid of this problem before it takes over the house. You are right to be concerned because mold can cause thousands of dollars in damage and reduce the value of your home.
How to Know if Home Insurance in Salt Lake City Covers Mold Damage
If you’ve found mold in your home, you’re naturally going to want to know if you can turn the costs of removal into your home insurance provider as a claim. It’s important to know if your situation is covered in your policy before you start the process.
Whether mold is covered depends on the wording of your policy and the cause of the mold. The timeline may also play a role in determining if your claim will be denied.
The first step is to determine the cause of the mold. It’s often caused by leaking pipes, but high humidity or other situations may also be the cause. Once you know why the mold issue happened, it’s time to take a look at your policy.
Mold Exclusions
The majority of home insurance policies exclude mold damage from coverage. If a pipe bursts suddenly, any resulting mold may be covered under water damage. However, there is often a timeline for turning in claims on this type of incident. Insurance carriers may provide coverage for water damage that happened from a severe situation which occurred recently.
However, most policies don’t cover long-term water leaks, even if you didn’t know they existed. You usually have a limited time to get the issue taken care of and to file a claim. Mold damage will not be assessed or handled separately but as part of the water damage for approved claims.
There may also be a limit on how much the carrier will pay for mold remediation services, which may not cover the actual cost. It’s important to sit down with your agent ahead of time to find out about exclusions and limits on your policy for water and mold damage.
Flooding Claims
If you have mold damage because of flooding in your area, you will need to have flood insurance to file a claim. Most homeowners’ policies don’t cover flood damage. Instead, you must purchase flood insurance to be protected. If you have this coverage, mold removal and damage will be covered under the terms of the policy.
It’s important to determine whether you live in an area prone to flooding before the situation happens. If you do, you need to contact your insurance agent and find out about getting flood insurance to cover your property.
Find out coverage for water and mold damage before something happens to your home. Know what coverage you have, what can be added so you are prepared. Home insurance in Salt Lake City can provide the coverage you need if you choose the right policy.
