For those wondering if homeowners insurance covers roof leaks or repairs, you’ll have to look at both your current insurance policy and areas often covered by typical insurance. By understanding what might be covered or not covered by insurance, you can be better prepared to file insurance claims and ask for a reimbursement.
What Is Usually Covered by Insurance?
You may want to check your current policy for those wondering how to get insurance to pay for roof replacements or repairs. Your insurance company may not cover some instances, whether you want to get a new roof to replace the old one or need new shingles due to unexpected natural disasters.
If you are in an emergency or experience sudden and unexpected damage to your roof, search through your current homeowner’s insurance policy to see if they can help. In most cases, your insurance company can reimburse you if your roof was damaged by weather, natural disasters or non-preventable damage.
Some events covered by most insurance companies include the following:
- Fire: Damage from accidental home fires, fires from nearby buildings or wildfires.
- Lightning: Lightning strikes the roof and causes fire or other serious destruction.
- Windstorms: Heavy windstorms may cause severe damage to your roof from trees, debris or rocks.
- Hail: Hail, especially heavy and large hail, can cause extensive damage to your shingles and parts of the roof.
- Explosions: Perhaps there was an explosion due to dangerous chemicals or nearby accidents. Many insurance companies will also cover damage from purposeful explosions.
- Riots: If civil unrest is near your home, your roof may have sustained damage from vandalism or flying objects.
- Aircraft damage: Aircraft may crash into the roof of the home.
- Vehicle damage: Vehicles may crash into the home, damaging the house and the roof itself.
- Smoke: In some cases, fire may cause excess smoke to rise, causing extensive damage to the roof.
- Vandalism: If vandals have spraypainted or damaged your roof, you may be entitled to insurance coverage.
- Theft: Sometimes, thieves may damage your roof while attempting to enter the home.
- Volcanic eruption: If you live near a volcano, an eruption could destroy homes or damage roofs from fire, smoke and ash.
- Falling objects: If objects like trees or large rocks fall onto your roof, the insurance company may likely pay damages.
- Water overflow: In rare cases, the water inside your house may overflow and cause damage to parts of the roof.
- Sudden or accidental failure of systems: Failure of air conditioners, water heaters or fire-protective systems.
- Freezing damage: Damage from frozen water and ice causing the roof to collapse or shingles to fall off.
- Damage from electrical currents: Electrical currents within or outside the home may spark and cause smoke or fires.
What Is Not Usually Covered by Insurance?
While your insurance plan may cover many instances, there are some areas where your homeowners’ insurance may not reimburse you for damages. Here are the three most common areas your insurance may not cover.
1. Pest Damage
Many insurance companies consider pest control to be the homeowners’ responsibility. If pests happen to destroy your roof, the insurance will likely not pay for damages. You’ll want to deal with any pests before they damage your shingles, roof or other areas around your home. For example, many exterminators and pest control professionals can deal with common animals and bugs such as squirrels, rats, birds, bats, ants or termites.
Many insurance companies will deny your claim should you try to get reimbursed for damage caused by pests. The only exception is if an attack by squirrels or termites leads to another disaster. For example, squirrels may chew on electrical wire and cause a sudden and accidental fire, destroying or damaging your roof.
2. Wear and Tear
Homeowners’ insurance companies may also deny your claim should the damage to your roof result from natural wear and tear. For those who experience harsh weather conditions, normal wear of the roof is quite normal. However, it is often the homeowner’s responsibility to keep up with roof maintenance and routine inspections to ensure your roof is in good condition.
The inspections and maintenance themselves are usually not covered by your insurance policy. Remember that you often have to perform preventative measures to ensure your roof can withstand harsh weather and other conditions. If the insurance company believes you did not take care of your roof responsibly, they might deny your claim.
3. Cosmetic Damage
In some cases, your home’s roof may be damaged cosmetically, meaning only the roof’s physical appearance is altered. If the roof has cosmetic damage, but the functions of the roof are stable, such as the shingles or water-proof elements, your insurance company will likely deny a claim.
For example, high winds in your area may rip shingles off the roof, but the damage to the roof function could be minimal. In that case, your insurance policy will likely not approve your claim. You’ll also want to avoid claiming such minor repairs as it could affect your current policy or increase your rates.
Why Might an Insurance Company Deny a Claim?
There are many reasons why your home insurance company might deny your claim. From a leaky, old roof resulting from neglect to damage that the homeowner could have prevented, insurance companies will look closely at each situation to determine whether the damage is something worth covering.
1. Your Roof Is Old
If your roof is older and worn down, it can be much harder to convince an insurance company to approve your claim. Many homeowners insurance companies have stipulations for homes, including keeping up with natural wear and tear. An old house and roof will eventually cause problems with shingles and roof function.
Roofs will eventually age and become worn or leaky. In some cases, insurance companies will refuse to renew your policy if they find out you haven’t kept up with maintenance or roof replacement when needed. Some insurance companies will give homeowners extra time to make the necessary repairs and replacements, such as six months or a few years. It is good practice to keep checking in with your current policy to ensure you’re making the repairs you need to renew your homeowner’s policy each year.
When your roof ages, it also becomes more susceptible to damage. This makes it harder to prove to the insurance company whether its condition was already present or a result of an accident or disaster. Waiting to address specific conditions in your old roof may lead to damages from neglect rather than accidents.
Insurance companies don’t want to pay for roofs that have not been well-maintained, and if they ended up paying for such repairs, many people would not replace their roofs at all. The insurance company looks to shoulder the financial burden of old roofs onto the homeowners as often as possible, which is why they usually won’t cover those damages in the first place.
2. The Damage Is Cosmetic
In other cases, your homeowners’ insurance company will not cover minor cosmetic damage. The damage to your roof often must affect the roof’s function before the insurance company considers your claim legitimate. If the company deems the damage purely cosmetic without affecting the structure, you will probably not get reimbursed and have to pay for repairs yourself.
For example, perhaps a tree falls on your roof but only scratches the shingles or pulls off a few pieces. Maybe the scratches can only be seen from the yard, but there is no functional damage to the roof itself. In that case, the homeowners’ insurance company will likely look at your roof and determine that the damage is insufficient to receive coverage. If the damage is only surface level and affects the look rather than the structure and safety of your home, you’ll probably end up receiving a denied claim.
3. The Damage Was Preventable
Another reason companies may deny your claim is if the damage to the roof was preventable. For example, some insurance companies won’t cover leaky roofs if they determine that it could have been prevented by regular roof maintenance and inspections. The coverage you get will depend heavily on its exact cause.
Pests and cosmetic damage are considered preventable, so insurance companies expect you to do your own work inspecting your roof for signs of pesky animals and bugs. Try to keep up with maintenance and schedule routine exterminator visits or set traps for current pests you know will cause damage.
To look for signs of pests, homeowners should also:
- Listen for noises: Some pests, such as mice, rats or bats, may make noticeable noises within your home.
- Check for insects: Insects may be harder to spot than other pests, so look closely for signs of termites or ants.
- Inspect burrows or holes: If you find holes or burrows within your home, you’ll want to inspect them closely or hire an exterminator to check for pests.
Wear and tear can also become common as your roof ages. For those with older roofs, you will have to work even harder to ensure you’ve prevented any roof damage that could result from neglect. If you live in an area that often experiences high wind, snow or rain, you’ll need to take extra care of your roof and shingles by making sure you replace the parts when needed.
Replacing roofing materials may vary depending on the type of shingles used. For example, metal roofs last longer than asphalt shingles. As such, it is the homeowner’s responsibility to keep up with maintenance and increase the longevity of their roof.
4. The Insurance Covers Some Perils and Not Others
Many insurance policies cover typical disaster situations and damages but not others. You’ll want to check your policy to see what they cover thoroughly and don’t cover. For example, insurance companies often do not cover two common perils — earthquakes and flooding.
While it is rare, flooding could cause damage to a roof if the water is high enough. Many insurance companies, however, won’t cover this situation because it’s uncommon. In other cases, earthquakes could cause structures to shake, causing roofs and other parts of the building to fall apart. Shingles could fall off, or nearby trees could fall and damage the roof. However, some insurance companies may not cover this situation if you live in an area that does not experience many earthquakes.
You may find that some mortgage companies require you to have extra homeowners insurance for these two events. This usually happens when you live in an area that commonly experiences earthquakes or extreme floods. For example, if you own a home near a floodplain, you may be required to find flood insurance. If you own a home near a fault line, the mortgage company may want you to seek specific earthquake insurance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many insurance companies clarify what they cover and don’t cover in their policies. However, you may still have questions about specific situations and whether home insurance covers them. Here are some answers to common roof coverage questions.
Does Home Insurance Cover Roof Leaks?
Your home insurance policy may cover damage from roof leaks depending on the cause of the damage. In some cases, if the damage resulted from neglect, they might deny your claim. Some people like to add home warranties to their roofs if an insurance policy does not cover their needs. A home warranty acts as a service contract covering significant systems, structures or appliances in the home not typically covered by insurance.
In other cases, a home insurance company may cover your leaky roof should it be the result of wind or hail damage. You’ll need to check the policies list of covered perils to see if the cause of your leak is something they cover. For example, they will probably deny your claim if the leak results from no maintenance or natural wear and tear.
This is why it is good practice to ask about the roof’s age and condition before purchasing a new home. It would help if you also kept up your own responsibilities, like maintenance and inspections, to ensure you’ve done everything to prevent natural wear and tear should the roof begin to leak.
Does Home Insurance Cover Roof Replacement?
Your home insurance policy will only cover a roof replacement if the damage resulted from specific perils or events outlined in the policy. For example, if a tree broke through your roof due to an intense storm or was severely damaged by a fire, your insurance will likely help to pay for a roof replacement. However, if you’re looking to replace your roof due to its age, your insurance will probably not cover the replacement, as it was not damaged by anything except natural wear and tear.
Call Performance Adjusting With Questions About Legitimate Claims
At Performance Adjusting, we work as public insurance adjusters for our customers who need assistance handling insurance claims. We will assess the damage done to your roof and negotiate with the insurance company to ensure you get the best rates possible.
Our team can help you build and file a good claim if you contact us before your insurance company. However, we also assist customers in getting the most money out of existing claims or claims that have already been paid. Contact us today to speak to a Performance Adjusting representative, or call us at 401-724-9111.
