How to get your insurance company to cover the mold damage in your home

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It’s a common situation. Many homeowners discover mold in their homes and either neglect to engage their insurance company or engage them on the terms of the insurance company. Mold and dirt on window

If you have mold damage, you must notify your insurance company about the damages.

But in doing so, you need to do this smartly. You may have a few questions about what is covered. Below are statements that are true for most policies (although some discrepancies may apply). Generally:

  • Storm damage is covered.
  • Broken pipes are covered.
  • Damage due to an accidental case like you left the water running in the bathtub and it overflowed onto the floor, ceilings, etc. is covered
  • And in most cases, the resulting downstream effects of these covered situations are also covered.

However, damage due to owner neglect is generally not covered. Similarly, damage that resulted from normal “wear and tear” is not covered. To make sure mold damage is covered, you have to tie it to a covered event to get it covered.

These steps outline the process.

  1. Get a copy of your policy and read it carefully so you know exactly what is covered and what is not covered.
  2. Do your best to reconstruct a covered event and tie it to the presence of the mold. For example, perhaps there was a storm some weeks/months ago that caused a roof leak that went unnoticed, but now you can see it. Or there may have been a storm that opened a leak into the basement
  3. When reconstructing, you have to avoid having the insurance company classify the situation as owner neglect or normal wear and tear, so again, refer to point #2.

There is no magic but with some awareness of what is covered is what is not covered and some good detective work and a good memory, you may be able to reconstruct a scenario that meets the insurance company requirements for coverage. Even if you don’t get 100% coverage, you may get partial coverage if they determine that some percentage of the issue was caused by the storm, but you failed to mitigate so they apportion some of the damage to you. You are still generally ahead of the curve if you can even get a partial determination of coverage.

Mold, too, can have an ongoing effect on your health, especially on lung health and allergies. If you’re experiencing signs of chronic illness or not feeling optimal, we’re here to help. Visit our website to learn more about our approach and treatment options: http://proactivewellness.com