Water damage caused by a burst pipe or malfunctioning appliance is often very expensive to fix, and it can spread far throughout your home as water moves through your wall cavities. Flooring, drywall, and wooden furniture can all be ruined. Thankfully, homeowners insurance covers sudden water damage, and the expense of restoring your home afterward normally makes it worth it to file a claim and pay your deductible.
If your home has been damaged by water and you're filing an insurance claim, it's usually worthwhile to hire a public adjuster to help you with the process. While your insurance company will send their own adjuster to your home in order to estimate the amount of money the damage will cost to repair, these adjusters are either employed by the insurance company or hired by them as a contractor. A public adjuster will also estimate the repair costs, but they work for you rather than the insurance company. To learn why it's beneficial to have a public adjuster help you with your water damage claim, read on.
Water Damage Claims Are Complex, and Insurance Companies May Use This Complexity to Deny Coverage
One of the best reasons to have a water damage insurance adjuster working for you on your claim is that water damage claims are quite complex, and insurance companies sometimes use this complexity in order to deny your claim. Insurance companies won't cover water damage that occurred gradually, like damage from a pipe that was slowly leaking for months without you noticing it. They'll only cover sudden events that resulted in water damage to your home.
An adjuster working for the insurance company may try to deny your claim by saying that most (or all) of the damage was done gradually. Insurance companies save money by not paying claims, and water damage claims are one of their greatest expenses due to the fact that they often cause extensive damage to homes. A public adjuster helps you avoid having your claim denied by working with contractors to help prove that the damage wasn't gradual. Insurance policies often have other coverage limitations for water damage that are similar to denying claims for gradual damage, and a public adjuster will read your policy in order to determine how best to present the damage to your insurance company in order to prove that the damage is covered by your policy.
Water Damage Can Spread Far Throughout Your Home, So It's Important to Determine the Full Extent of the Necessary Repairs
Another problem that homeowners commonly encounter when filing claims for water damage is that some of the damage is often hidden. Water that pools onto the floor can wick up through small openings in the wall, allowing it to spread into wall cavities, and this damage can't be easily seen.
An adjuster working for the insurance company may not carefully inspect your entire home for damage in order to limit the amount the insurance company has to pay for the claim. A public adjuster, on the other hand, will use equipment like an infrared camera and a moisture meter to find the full extent of the water damage in your home, even if it's behind the drywall. Finding all of the damage in your home maximizes the amount of money you'll receive from the insurance company in order to repair it.
Making Full Repairs Helps You Avoid Future Damage to Your Home
When you work with a public adjuster, find how far the water damage in your home has spread and get all of the funds you'll need to fully restore your home, you help prevent future damage. Water that spreads into the wall cavities can allow mold to grow inside them, and it will also cause any wooden struts in your home to rot. The worst thing about this is that mold and rot damage is typically excluded completely from homeowners insurance coverage. Failing to completely restore your home can lead to more expensive repair bills in the future, and you'll have to pay them on your own.
Overall, using a water damage insurance adjuster for your claim helps you maximize the amount of money you'll receive for repairs since they're working for you rather than your insurance company. They can help you avoid your claim being denied and can help you get the funds you need to fully restore your home. If your home has recently been damaged by water, call a public adjuster in your area that has experience handling water damage claims and have the damage inspected — you'll often be able to significantly increase the amount of money you receive from insurance by having a public adjuster on your side.
If you are looking for a water damage adjuster, contact a company like Anthony Ricciardi Licensed Public Insurance Adjuster today.
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