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eLearning Series:
Your Most Popular Insurance Questions
Answers For Health and Home
Insurance
( 50 articles
in this series )
Roof Exclusions
In Homeowner's Insurance:
What You Should Know
If you own a home you may assume that everything
is covered by your homeowners insurance. However, you may be
surprised to find out that you are wrong. In many cases people
find that certain exclusions in their homeowner’s insurance
policy that prevent their entire homes from being covered.
Roof exclusions are one type of exclusion that may
prevent the roof of your home from being covered by homeowner’s
insurance. If you are buying a house for the first time and investing
in a homeowner’s insurance policy, make sure to go over any
roof exclusions with your insurance agent. If you currently
have a homeowner’s insurance policy, read it carefully to find
out its policies on roofing. You may be surprised with what
you find out.
Consider what would become of your beautiful home if you did
not have a roof. If you think about it, roofs are one of the
most important parts of homes. Without a properly functioning
roof to provide shelter from the outdoors, your home is basically
useless. In most cases homeowner’s insurance policies
do not exclude roofs completely. Usually, homeowner’s insurance contains
roof exclusions for certain things.
Common
roof exclusions include service to perform routine maintenance
to your roof. Roof repair is usually covered for
the repair of leaks but does not cover replacing the entire
roof. Since replacing your roof can be considerably expensive
and is often eventually necessary when you own a home for a
long period of time, it is good to be aware that replacing
your roof is not covered by your homeowner’s insurance. If
you are not aware of this fact and you plan to replace your
roof, you will be in for an expensive surprise when you realize
that it is you that is footing the bill. Any repairs for defects
such as leaks that are covered in your insurance policy are
likely to only be covered if the repairs are completed with
parts and materials that are equal in value to those of your
current roof. Any upgrades or work that is done with materials
better than and more expensive than your current roof materials
will not be covered in your homeowner’s insurance policy.
Another factor to take into consideration when looking into
roof exclusions is to carefully read through your homeowner’s
insurance policy to see if it discriminates against roofs made
of certain materials. Some insurance companies offer homeowner’s
insurance policies that only provide for roofs made of certain
materials. For example, there are insurance companies that
will not cover cedar shake and slate roofs in their homeowner’s
insurance policy. If you want your roof repairs and maintenance
to be covered through your homeowner’s insurance, it is a good
idea to look into what types of roofs may be excluded by your
insurance company, particularly if your roof is made out of
a rare or hard to find material.
In
addition, the age and layering of the roof may play a role
in whether of not your roof is covered or excluded. Oftentimes
older roofs over anywhere from ten to twenty years of age are
not covered by insurance. When roofs age they are often replaced,
however it can be extremely expensive to completely remove
and re-shingle a roof. This is why a second layer of roofing
shingles are often added to the first if a roof only contains
one layer of shingles and must be redone. This can provide
a cheaper alternative to strip the entire roof. However, this
can be a problem when it comes to roof exclusions. Often, insurance
companies exclude roofs that have more than one layer of roofing
shingles, but in some cases insurance companies will increase
the limit to two layers and cover roofs with two layers of
roofing shingles or less.
A final point to keep in mind when considering the insurance
of the roof of your home is the amount of coverage
offered for your roof. Usually the amount of coverage is per square,
which may put a limit on how much money can be spent and covered
by your insurance when it comes to your roof. Good rates will
allow you to keep your roof maintained and looking great.
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