Homeowners generally rest assured thinking that with their homeowners’ insurance their homes are fully protected. But this is not always the case. A homeowners’ insurance could leave several aspects of the home still without security, and this is because of the exclusions in the policy. One example of such exclusions is the roof exclusion that prevents the roof of your home from being covered by the typical homeowners’ insurance. Therefore a homeowner must take care to discuss the roof exclusion with the insurance agent. Even if you already have a homeowners’ insurance, you must investigate what its stand is concerning the roof of your house.
No home is complete without its roof. If a home is seen from the perspective of being a shelter to its occupants, then it can be said quite authentically that the roof is the most important part of the home. So it is all the more important to have it insured. In actuality, most homeowners’ policies do not exclude the roof completely, but could exclude it for certain things.
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Ordinarily, most services to perform routine roof maintenance will not be covered. Now, consider this. Repair work for the roof, such as repairing of minor leaks, is covered, but replacing an entire roof is not covered. If you think about it, replacing a roof is a much costlier affair than doing repair work. And if you have lived in your house for a number of years, roof replacement might become necessary. Here is where you must be careful with your homeowners’ insurance. You might set out replacing the roof thinking that this expense would be covered, but might get a jolt later when you find out who is actually going to pay. Ask your broker for a policy that might cover roof replacement also.
Even with repair works on the roof, only those repairs are covered which will be commensurate in value with your existing roof. If you go overboard and spend more on the repair than your actual cost of the roof, then the policy would not cover for it. The materials used must be the same as those already on your roof. Upgrades to materials won’t be covered for.
Certain homeowners’ policies exclude roofs that are made of particular materials. Cedar shake and slate roofs are examples of materials that may not be covered by some companies. Therefore, it is essential to check whether your type of roof would be covered or not. This could be the case if your roof is made of a rare material.
Other exclusions on roofs are if the roofs are too old or if there is too much layering on the roof. The age limit of roofs for coverage could vary anywhere from between ten to twenty years. At such times, actually coverage becomes more important, since the roofs may need to be re-shingled or totally replaced. If an additional layer of shingles is added to the roof, then that too could be excluded. There is ordinarily a limit on the number of layers of shingles that are allowable for coverage.
Homeowners must also be cognizant of the portion of the total home insurance that would be available for covering expenses with the roof. This amount is generally per square foot. If your repair work exceeds the limiting value of coverage, then you would have to foot the remainder of the bill.
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