Mold in the House: Will Insurance Cover It? - Mold Inspection Monmouth County NJ

Mold in the House: Will Insurance Cover It?

This is a common question and concern for many New Jersey homeowners. On top of suspecting mold in your home, you now must face how you will pay for it. But wait, won’t your homeowner’s insurance cover the expense of getting it tested and removed? Not necessarily. Let’s take a look at what’s covered and what’s not.

Wondering whether insurance will cover the mold testing and removal? The answer is “it depends.” Your homeowner’s insurance probably won’t cover it if the mold was the result of a leak that could have been prevented, or as a result of flooding within the home or high humidity levels. You may be able to get coverage if the mold was caused by a “covered peril.”

A covered peril is an incident that is out of a homeowner’s control, such as:

• Lightning
• Vandalism
• Frozen/burst pipes
• Damage caused by vehicles
• Theft
• Fire
• Falling objects
• Heavy ice, snow, or sleet
• Accidental discharge or overflow of water/steam due to faulty plumbing, heating, air conditioners, sprinkler systems or appliances

In a nutshell, your home insurance company won’t pay for mold damages if it determines the root cause of the mold could have been prevented by you, the homeowner. They expect that homeowners will keep up with basic maintenance tasks to ensure water damage does not occur. Part of your responsibility as a homeowner is to maintain low humidity levels in basements and repair/maintain pipes as needed.

If you experience a covered peril, you may be in luck with getting the insurance company to pay for repairs and clean up. This includes “sudden and accidental” incidents, such as washer hoses that spring leaks, ice dams that soak your attic, or burst pipes – but only IF you notice and report them right away.

Circumstances in Which Insurance Won’t Pay

When the water damage is caused by your own negligence and/or you fail to report the incident in a timely manner, your homeowner’s insurance won’t pay for it. Check out these examples:

• Your pipes freeze and burst, flooding your basement with three inches of water. You don’t notice or report it for a couple of weeks and mold is already forming.
• You failed to maintain the shingles on your 40-year-old roofing system, and one broke. Water leaked into your attic and saturated the wood and insulation, leading to mold growth.
• You notice large amounts of mold in your shower after several weeks as you suddenly get concerned that it could be making your family sick.

Yes, these circumstances are unfortunate, but the insurance company likely won’t pay the claim. They feel the result is not their problem because you as the homeowner should have stayed on top of basic maintenance. Plus, standard homeowner’s insurance policies won’t cover water damage caused by a flood. Now, IF you have a separate flood policy, mold and mildew would be covered IF it didn’t spread based on your failure to inspect your property after the flood occurred in a timely manner.

If you’re unsure about what’s covered and what’s not, call your homeowner’s insurance company and speak to an agent. Then, call Stock Environmental Consulting to test and inspect for mold at 732-383-5190.

Mold Inspection Monmouth County NJ