Suppose you have water damage in your residential or commercial property and are about to file a property damage claim with your insurance company for the damages. In that case, you will have to make sure you understand the difference between backups and plumbing failures. Understanding this difference is a vital dimension of receiving the settlement you are entitled to, as it quite literally pays to know the difference in the words you use to describe the cause of loss or damage in your property damage claim.
The words backups or sewage backups and plumbing failures have different meanings to insurance companies. While they both may result in water leakages and flooding in your home, the causes are very different. For this reason, the insurance company may use your lack of knowledge and understanding about the differences between these two types of water damage in their favor to either deny your claim or make a lowball offer.
So, what’s the difference between backups and plumbing failures, and why does it matter for the settlement of your property damage claim. Let’s take a closer look.
Water Damage Caused by Backups
Most homeowners’ insurance policy coverage do not cover sewer backup and overflow. Backups are typically caused by debris clogging up the sewage system into which all the water exiting your home through drains flows. When the sewer line backs up into your home the overflow causes a disgusting mess. Since the sewer is the ultimate destination of all water that leaves your property, many backups are caused by plumbing failures that occur from the damaged property.
For this reason, if the water leaking into or flooding your home is coming from a backup sewer off your property, the insurance company will likely not cover the associated damages to your property unless you have a separate rider. This means you could be on the hook for the total cost of cleanup and repairs. The same applies to water damage caused by overflows, usually caused by the overflowing of exterior drains, which causes water to flow back into your property.
As far as the insurance company is concerned, the part of the pipe connecting your home to the sewer system is owned and operated by the city & thus it is an issue between you and the public utility.
Water Damage Caused by Plumbing Failure
Plumbing leaks and failures are different from backups and overflows and are covered under your policy. It is therefore vital that the language used in your property damage claim reflect the correct nature and cause of the water damage that your property has sustained. Plumbing leaks are usually caused by the failure of your property’s internal plumbing system, as well as roof leaks, HVAC leaks, and air conditioner leaks. A plumbing leak or burst pipe can do extensive damage to your home or property. Even a slow leak that goes unnoticed can lead to overwhelming damage.
Also, many insureds when describing the water damage to the insurance company make the mistake of using the term ‘flooding’ in their property damage claim to describe the nature of the water damage. Be careful – do not use the “F” word. Homeowners and property owners must remember that insurance companies do not cover flood damages when the word flood is taken in the natural disaster sense of the term, which is the only sense that insurance companies use the term in. Flood insurance is an entirely separate policy, and hence homeowners should avoid using this term when describing the scope of water damage to their property.
Consumer Law Office – Handling Property Insurance Water Damage Claims & Disputes From Start to Settlement
If you have sustained water damage to your commercial or residential property,
Immediately contact The Florida Property Damage Attorneys at Consumer Law Office. Our law office can even file your claim for you and will be by your side at the start of your claim. Our Property Damage Attorneys are highly experienced in matters related to the different kinds of water damage and use our experience & knowledge of insurance law and adjusting to determine the nature of your water damage problem and scope of the water damage.
The Florida Property Damage Attorneys at the Consumer Law Office will help you with your water damage claim to receive the compensation you are entitled to under your insurance policy. At CLO we will aggressively advocate on your behalf to get you the relief to which you are entitled.
Contact us today for a free consultation. We have helped numerous home and business owners successfully recover the compensation they deserve. Best of all there are no upfront fees, and we only get paid only if you win.
