Will Your Homeowner's Insurance Cover The Costs Of Mold Damage?

Posted on: 31 July 2019

Mold in a house is probably one of the worst problems you can have, as it is very hard to remove and can be costly as well. If you have homeowner's insurance on your home, you might instantly assume that it will cover the costs for removing the mold; however, this is not always true. Here are several things to understand about the way homeowner's insurance works when you have mold damage in your house.

What caused the mold damage?

The first thing you will need to find out is what caused the mold damage. Mold occurs in a home when water is present, and water can be present for many reasons. First of all, water can be present in a home when there is a plumbing leak that you do not know about. If water is leaking from a pipe in your wall, you might not catch it for a while. As the water leaks and goes unnoticed, mold can be forming. Water in a home can also happen from a roof leak. If you do not detect this for a while, it gives mold time to form. Water can also occur from a flooded basement, and this too can lead to mold in a home. You will need to know why there is mold in your home before you can determine if your insurance will cover the costs of removing it.

Will it be covered?

Homeowner's insurance policies generally cover the costs of mold removal if they could not have been prevented. For example, if a pipe bursts in your home during a storm and leads to mold, it will probably be covered, as long as you addressed the problem right away. If a storm rips your roof off and leads to water damage in your home, the cost to remove mold would also likely be covered under your policy.

Mold removal is not generally covered if it is the result of a problem you failed to address. If you have leaks in your plumbing system, you should have dealt with them faster, instead of letting them go. If mold occurred as a result of neglected home maintenance, your insurance probably will not cover the costs for mold remediation.

If you are dealing with mold damage in your home and want to know if it is covered under your policy, you would need to contact your homeowner's insurance agent.

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