A pipe bursts in the basement or an appliance such as a
clothes washer or dishwasher begins to leak all over the floor while
you're gone on vacation and all of a sudden you find yourself wondering
if you're covered.
For example, if a pipe were to burst in the home due
to a drop in temperature and you had left the home vacant and without
the heat necessary to keep the pipes from bursting, you might not be
covered.
They could possibly deny you due to the fact that you
did not take the necessary action that would have prevented the event.
If your bathtub overflows, you should be covered, even
if it's just because you were on the phone or tending to another matter
in the house and simply forgot to turn off the water.
In most cases if a major household appliance such as a
washer or a dishwasher suddenly malfunctions and water spews all over
the floor and causes damage, you are covered by your homeowner's
insurance.
You'll have to pay for the cost of fixing the washing
machine or dishwasher yourself, but any damage caused by the water
itself should be paid for by your policy.
If the cause of the damage is heavy rain and the water
leaks through the roof or floods into the basement and the house itself
and items inside it are damaged, you should be covered for the cost of
the water damage to the interior of your home.
The damage to the belongings inside your home is
probably not covered, however; if the roof leak was caused by a tree
limb falling on the house, then the damage to your furniture, roof, and
interior should be covered to a reasonable extent.
One of the major causes of water damage to homes,
however, is usually not covered. This is a flood. Unless you have an
insurance policy that specifically identifies a flood as a source of
damage to the home, you aren't covered.
