Insurance and water damage

If a pipe bursts behind your drywall in January or a washer hose springs a leak in July, the first question every Treasure Valley homeowner asks is does homeowners insurance cover water damage. The short answer is yes for a lot of scenarios, but the line between covered and uncovered is specific enough that getting it wrong can cost you the entire claim.

Covered and excluded water damage

Your homeowner policy generally responds to sudden and accidental water events: a burst pipe, a frozen pipe (provided you had the heat on), a failed washer hose or ice-maker line, and rain driven in by storm damage. It does not respond to a slow drip behind a wall, groundwater seepage into a foundation, damage you could have prevented with maintenance, or a sewer backup unless you added a backup endorsement. Surface flooding from river overflow or heavy rain standing on the ground is excluded entirely and requires a separate NFIP flood policy. One detail trips people up: the policy pays to repair the damage the water caused to your floors, walls, and contents, but it generally does not pay to fix or replace the failed pipe or the broken washer itself.

What to do in the first hour and what to check before you file

Shut the water source. Take photos and video of everything before you clean a single drop. Keep the failed part, the burst pipe or the snapped hose, in a bag. Then call your insurer. The phrase that decides whether your claim holds is "sudden and accidental." If you can show the event was fast and unplanned, you are on solid ground. If the damage looks like weeks of seepage, the adjuster will lean on the exclusion language. Delaying the call can void the claim, so make the insurer your first call, ahead of the restoration crew.

Water damage?

Fill out the request and one local water damage restoration company covering your town calls or texts back.