5 Tips for Preventing Water Damage Claims
- Bragan Jackson
- Dec 18, 2022
- 4 min read
The Risk Sentinel - VOL 1, ISS 3
Little known fact: According to claims data compiled by Traveler's over a span of seven years from 2013-2020, water damage accounts for the single most common claim outside of weather related events such as wind, hail and weather driven water intrusion. In fact, "non-weather" water damage (23%) accounts for a higher percentage than weather related water claims (15%).
If you look at the average amount of a water damage claim, you might be thinking to yourself okay what's the big deal? According to iPropertyManagement.com:
The average home insurance claim for water damage is $11,098.
Recently, however, more and more insurance carriers have begun attaching water damage sub-limits to their homeowner's insurance policies due to the rising frequency and severity of water damage claims. Some sub-limits can be as low as five or ten thousand dollars. Any damage in excess of the sub-limit plus your deductible could leave you to foot the bill.
So what are homeowner's to do? Well, here's five tips to help reduce your likelihood of a water damage claim.
Tip #1 - Inspect hoses and faucets
As the saying goes: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Developing a routine inspection process for interior hoses and connections is the single easiest water damage prevention method all homeowner's should implement, starting today. Got a stain under your kitchen sink? Don't wait for that stain to turn into a flooded kitchen. Diagnose the problem and get a qualified technician over to replace the fault part. $185 to your favorite plumber is way better than a deductible payment to your insurance carrier when the slow drip turns into a deluge.
Tip #2 - Know the location of the main water shut off valve in your home
The most common location for the water shut-off valve is going to be at the meter out by the street, but in newer construction you may have a water valve in your mechanical room or basement (often near the hot water heater). Should you find yourself in a situation with actively running water on a supply side leak, knowing where the shut-off valve is could mean the different between having to file a claim with your homeowners carrier or not.
Tip #3 - Maintain your heat at an absolute minimum of 55 degrees Fahrenheit
Technically this tip falls under the "weather water damage" prevention category, but since even this type of water damage is so easily preventable, we're going to include it here.
One of the largest water damage claims I've ever seen involved a condo association in a college town; one of the tenants in a rental condo unit left town for winter break when the temperature outside was still in the 70's. Two weeks later the city experienced the coldest temperature in recorded history for that given day, and it remained below freezing for the following week. Unfortunately that one unit was still in cooling mode and this condo building was protected by an automatic sprinkler system. Once it finally got above freezing long enough for the pipes to thaw it was too late. Fun fact: frozen water can rupture steel pipes in a closed system.
If you don't have the utilities on to allow for maintaining the heat at proper levels in the home, it's extremely important to properly drain your systems and appliances. Better yet, hire a property preservation contractor who's qualified and trained to winterize your home.
Tip #4 - Inspect showers and tubs
You won't get any style points here, but this type of water leak and ensuring damage actually poses the largest health and safety threat. Slow leaks over time can lead to mold and rotten structural supports. Because of this, they're also the hardest to detect. Most often, these issues are discovered by home inspectors as part of a home purchase and sale agreement, or trade professionals such as plumbers or HVAC technicians visiting your home for unrelated service issues. Hiring high quality and well trained professionals when you need something done is a great way to reduce your exposure to slow damage over time.
Tip #5 - Take extra precaution when leaving for an extended period of time
This tip is a 2 for 1 special.
Don't leave appliances (washing machine, dishwasher) running while you're out of the house (or even asleep). If a float switch fails these appliances have direct access to your home's water supply and can send thousands of gallons into your home in a matter of an hour.
If you're heading out for an extended vacation (lucky you!), add shut off the water supply to your list of to-do's before skipping town. This can be just as important as locking the doors and turning on the alarm.
Number 2 above is extremely important. Recently, we've even seen some insurance carriers totally remove water damage coverage from your homeowner's policy when your home is left unattended for as little as 10 days (unless you take preventative measures to eliminate water damage claims such as cut the water off and drain out all the systems).
Water damage and insurance
Don't become a part of the statistics. Preventing water damage claims is largely preventable with good maintenance habits and a proactive approach. If you're interested in more loss control tips and recommendations, subscribe to The Risk Sentinel below so we can update you when we post new content.
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