Does home owners insurance cover foundation and basement wall repair in Kansas City?
- Eric Scheele
- Apr 20, 2017
- 2 min read
With homeowners insurance, coverage often hinges not on what happened but why it happened. Water damage from a burst pipe is covered, for instance, but not from a flood. If your house is sinking, it's usually for a reason your policy excludes from coverage. That's unfortunate, as costs for stabilizing a foundation can run to several thousand dollars.
Soil Settling and Foundation Repair
Most homeowner policies exclude natural subsidence. Kansas law defines that as "settling, cracking, bulging, shrinkage or expansion of foundations, walls, floors, ceilings, walks, drives, curbs, fences, retaining walls," although other states phrase it differently. Sinking that results from earth movements such as a mudslide or an earthquake isn't covered either.
Builder Error and Foundation Repair
It may be the problem lies with your builder -- he did a lousy job pouring the foundation, say, and you're only just finding out. As with earth movements, your insurance policy doesn't cover losses due to bad workmanship or poor materials. If your builder gave you a warranty, you may be able to collect by calling on her to honor it. If not, you may have to take her to court to get satisfaction.
Water and Foundation Repair
If flooding has eaten away at your foundations or the ground under them, you're out of luck once again. Homeowners insurance never covers flood damage, so unless you have flood insurance there's no coverage. If the damage is due to a broken water pipe on your property, your policy might pay for the damage -- read it to find out. You can take out water-line insurance, though many such policies offer very little coverage.
Drought and Foundation Repair
If the ground around your house is drying out and cracking, that's the kind of subsidence that your policy exempts. It may be possible to launch a pre-emptive strike against sinking by keeping the ground thoroughly hydrated. The National Association of Realtors recommends you dig down about six inches: if you don't find any water, drought is a problem. You can use a soaker hose a foot away from the foundation to water the soil until it's moist but not drenched, repeating as needed when it dries out again.
KC Pier - Foundation Experts provide foundation repair and basement waterproofing in Kansas City and the surrounding metro area. KC Pier specializes in pier installation to correct foundation settlement, waterproofing leaking basements, straightening or stabilizing bowing walls and correcting poor drainage, foundation piers, wall piering and ibeam support solutions.
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