Insurance Claim?

June 7, 2004 7:11 AM

Over the weekend my basement flooded due to my sump pump not turning on. Should I place a home owners insurance claim? [mi]

I bought this house 2 years ago from my parents. During the time my family lived there it flooded occasionally. It flooded last march, (after the blizzard, snow melting, pouring rain) because the sump pump was improperly installed and burnt up because it didn't have a check valve. I had to replace the sump pump, and put in a check valve. It hasn't flooded since, until Saturday. We had several rugs damaged, and lots of toys and such have to be cleaned. Due to a wet basement, I know there is water damage, not necessarily from this occurence, molded 2x4 wall studs, damaged drywall. What if anything can homeowners insurance do about this? Will they replace rugs? toys? pay for mold/mildew removal?

posted by TuxHeDoh to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

I bought a new house this year and had a lot of trouble getting a new HO policy because I had put in a claim for water damage on my old house. One claim. This is a widespread problem in the industry and a google search on the relevant terms will turn up articles like this one.

My advice: pay for the damage out of pocket.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:17 AM on June 7, 2004

All depends on your policy and your deductible (deductable?). Our basement flooded last week due to a busted water heater, and we ended up not even claiming anything, after discovering that the new 1,000.00 water heater wasn't covered, and there was a 500.00 deductible, and that making another claim (last year our house was hit by lightning and we lost about 5,000.00 worth of stuff) so soon would raises our rates yet again, cancelling out whatever we recouped from filing the claim in the first place. Maybe you should talk it over with your agent.
posted by iconomy at 7:21 AM on June 7, 2004

Having worked briefly in insurance, I believe flooding is not covered under most insurance policies. You might want to revisit your policy documentation and see if there are any clauses with regards to that.
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 8:49 AM on June 7, 2004

My parents claimed a basement flood and had their policy cancelled on them. While this was many years ago, it left a bad taste in my mouth for home owner's insurance and water claims. :)

Pay for the damages yourself.
posted by xyzzy at 2:31 PM on June 7, 2004

hmm.. I had a basement flood and they paid for it all and never had a problem. It should be covered in a case like that is what HO insurance is for.
posted by stbalbach at 5:36 PM on June 7, 2004

Not much point in having insurance if your afraid to make claims on it... seems like a pretty straightforward claim to me.
posted by dagnyscott at 9:33 AM on June 8, 2004