Does Your Home Insurance Cover Mold and Water Damage?

Nearly two-thirds of the American population own their home. With homeownership comes a lot of responsibility, including the decision to get home insurance. Home insurance is financial protection provided by an insurance company of the homeowner’s choosing. After paying their premiums, homeowners can request financial assistance if they experience a loss, such as a fire, water damage and sometimes mold. However, it’s important to understand when your home is covered and when it is not in regards to water and mold damage.

The Basics of Your Home Insurance Policy

Flood damage isn't typically covered by your home insurance policy, to be clear. Generally, a flood constitutes increased water levels that originate outside of your home and could get inside of your home. Floods include weather-related events like heavy rains and riverbank breaches.

It is common practice for your home insurance to cover losses from water damage that originates inside your home, like a busted pipe or a leaking toilet.

In both cases, you should contact your insurance provider so that they can determine what is covered. You don’t want to miss an opportunity to get help with making much-needed repairs based on an assumption.

Coverage for Mold Damage

One complication of water damage is mold growth in your home. Mold thrives in moist, warm places. After you’ve experienced water damage, it’s not out of the ordinary to see mold begin to grow. On the surface, mold is detestable. It stinks and it looks awful. Beyond that, some forms of mold are a hazard to your health. You should make every effort to remove mold spores as soon as possible.

Fortunately, your home insurance may be able to help you eliminate your mold problem. Typically, when the mold in your home is caused by water damage, instead of flood damage, mold remediation may be covered by your home insurance policy. Of course, you must contact your home insurance provider to know with complete certainty whether the mold damage is covered or not.

Purchasing a Flood Policy

You can protect your home from flood water as well, but you will need an additional policy. Specifically, you need a flood insurance policy to protect your home. Even if you don’t live in a high-risk flood zone, you can still purchase a flood policy because a flood can happen anywhere. In general, when you purchase a flood policy, you are protecting yourself from both flood water and the mold that results from flood water.

The decision to purchase a home insurance policy complements your decision to purchase a home. With the ever-present risk of something happening to your home each day, it’s imperative that you are covered financially just in case something goes wrong. By adding flood insurance to your home insurance, you can potentially protect your home from flooding, water damage and the mold that can result from both perils.