Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Dry Rot?

Homeowners insurance likely won’t cover dry rot in your home. Some carriers will cover it if it was caused by a covered peril, but it’s usually hard to trace back to a direct source. It’s hard to notice dry rot until it proliferates, and by that time it may be too late to file an insurance claim since providers generally exclude damage caused gradually or over time. 

By the time you discover dry rot, though, it’s likely too late to file an insurance claim. Providers tend not to cover damage that happens gradually or over time. They do this for a few reasons. If insurers can’t trace the source of the wood rot, they may claim that it wasn’t caused by something they cover in the first place, so the wood rot and damage from it aren’t covered. 

If dry rot expands beyond what could’ve been stopped or contained just after a covered loss, your carrier likely won’t cover the costs to remediate it entirely. They’ll reason that upkeep could’ve prevented the damage from growing, and they’re not responsible for the extra damage caused by your lack of action.

Wet rot may be slightly less serious, but if left untreated it could cause many of the same problems as dry rot causes. Wet rot manifests itself differently, but it’s similarly not covered by homeowners insurance.

You might spot wet rot as a black fungus, where dry rot could look yellowish or white. As the name implies, wet rot may also need more moist wood than dry rot does to grow. Nevertheless, home insurance providers won’t generally cover wood rot unless you can prove that it was caused directly by a covered peril, which we’ll go over below.

For instance, a fungi endorsement could state that “the costs to remove “fungi”, wet or dry rot, or bacteria from property” and “the costs to tear out and replace any part of the building or other covered property as needed to gain access to the “fungi”, wet or dry rot, or bacteria” are covered. 

But, this only applies “when such loss or costs are a result of a peril insured against that occurs during the policy period” AND “if all reasonable means were used to save and preserve the property from further damage at and after the time the peril occurred.” Again, insurance company intentions are clear that they expect you to maintain your home to prevent damage as well as you can.

If water damage from a broken pipe or storm caused your floors to sag, you may be covered if you file a claim promptly. Otherwise, most instances of rotting floors won’t be covered by your insurance provider.

Hardwood floors can rot when they age and lose moisture. But, you should be able to see this coming before it gets too bad, and proper maintenance should prevent your floors from such a state of disrepair, anyway.

This content was originally published here.


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