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Handling YOUR WATER LEAK Damage
Claim From Start to Finish

Matrix Claims Services, YOUR claim advocate

A water damage insurance claim is one of the most common claims for homeowners, accounting for roughly 20% of insurance losses in 2020, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Each year, nearly one in 60 insured homes in America experiences property damage due to water damage or freezing.

 

Need help with a Water Damage Insurance Claim?

A close-up of water leaking out of an access panel of an electric water heater onto the concrete floor of a basement with a cinder block wall in the background.
Close up of water flooding on living room parquet floor in a house - damage caused by water leakage

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What type of water damage does homeowners insurance cover?

The cause of water damage to a home determines whether it’s covered by homeowners’ insurance. Generally, water damage is typically covered only when it’s sudden, accidental damage or storm-related damage. Typical water damage includes:

 

  • Burst pipes or sprinklers
  • Accidental leaks
  • Rainstorms
  • Ice dams
  • Appliance overflows
  • Fire extinguisher/hose damage (in the event of a fire)
  • Ceiling water leaks
  • AC leaks
  • Slab leak
  • Pipe leaks
  • Pipe burst
  • Broken pipes
  • Leaky bathtub
  • Refrigerator leaks
  • Dishwasher leaks
  • Washing machine
  • Water backups from toilet
  • Stained ceiling from roof
  • Copper line leak
  • Water heater leaks
  • Appliance hose line
  • Plumbing leaks
  • Bathroom flooded

What is damaged after a water leak?

  • Floors
  • Carpet
  • Baseboards
  • Ceiling Water Stains
  • Kitchen Island
  • Wood Floors
  • Kitchen Cabinets
  • Drywall
  • Cracks in Tile Floors
  • Bathroom Floors
  • Bathroom Vanities
  • Laminate Floors

What should you do immediately after the water leak or plumbing leak happens?

  1. Call a Plumber.

  2. Call the insurance company or let the public adjuster file the claim.

  3. Call a water mitigation company if there is a lot of water; kitchen cabinet damaged, floor damaged, walls and baseboards, etc..

  4. Take photos and/or videos of the damage from the water.

  5. Call Matrix Claims Services to assist with YOUR water insurance claim.

How to file a water damage claim with your insurance company?

When you file the claim, you want to make sure to keep things very simple and don’t ramble.

  1. What are the most important parts of an Insurance Claim for Water Damage? Do you have the right date of loss? Was the water damage caused by a long-term leak or something that suddenly happened?
    2. •When you have a water damage claim you want to use the following words when you file the claim: suddenly, just happened, abruptly, recently.
    •These are some of the words you want to avoid, especially if you didn’t know you had a leak, or the leak had been there for a period of time: long term, don’t know how long leak was going on, happened a few weeks or months ago.

  2. When they ask you what is damaged, saying something like:
    3. “I have damage to kitchen, bathroom, floors, but we are still trying to figure out all the damages and will have a better idea in a few days”. Don’t ramble on about how the leak happened, when it happened, or why it happened.

  3. Once the claim is filed, an insurance adjuster will probably contact you in a few days. Feel free to schedule an appointment for the inspection but again don’t say too much, less is more.

Understanding the homeowners insurance claim process involving water claims

  1. Contact a plumber.

  2. Contact a water mitigation company if you have any type of water damage. Note: Never use the insurance company’s preferred water mitigation company.

  3. File the claim with the insurance company.

  4. They might want to take a recorded statement from you, Examination Under Oath (EUO).

  5. Insurance company adjuster comes out to inspect the damages. Usually, it will be an “independent” adjuster, however, they do work for the insurance company.

  6. Depending on the insurance company and severity of the damages caused by the water, your insurance company may have a leak detection company and/or “engineer” come to your home to also inspect everything. Now, you need to understand something.  If one of these people comes out to your home, YOUR CLAIM WILL BE DENIED!!

  7. The insurance company, by Florida Statute, has 90 days to make a payment on your claim or deny it.  You should expect the insurance company to intentionally take almost the full 90 days, or sometimes even longer, to make a coverage decision on your claim.

  8. The insurance company will ask you for a repair estimate.

  9. You might be asked to fill out a Proof of Loss form

Why do insurers deny claims for water damage?

  1. Did your water leak happen suddenly or is it a long term leak? This is a very important question. When insurance companies deny a water damage claim it’s usually because the leak was long term.

  2. Preventable maintenance issue: Your insurance provider won’t bail you out for failure to address maintenance issues that eventually result in water damage. For instance, water damage from a leaking faucet or plumbing fixture that you knew about but never fixed wouldn’t be covered.

  3. A failure to mitigate the damages

  4. A long-standing water leak

  5. Construction defects

  6. Failure to maintain or drain a sprinkler system

  7. FEMA, Lack of coverage from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) when a flood insurance claim is made

  8. Mold: Mold is usually only covered under a homeowners policy if it’s the result of a covered peril. If your pipes burst suddenly and cause mold to build up, your insurance will most likely cover the removal. In some cases, you may need to add mold coverage your policy.

  9. Sewer backup: Standard insurance policies typically don’t cover damage from a sewer or drain backup.

  10. Negligence: In some cases, your insurance company may deny claims for covered perils if it determines the damage occurred because of negligence on your behalf. For example, your policy wouldn’t cover water damage from frozen/burst pipes if it was due to you failing to heat your home properly.

  11. Repairing or replacing the source of the water damage: Your policy covers damage from water but won’t cover fixing the cause of the damage. If your dishwasher breaks and floods your kitchen, your insurer may cover repairs to the floor, but not the cost to repair or replace your dishwasher.

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Insurance Claim Advocate

Get Your Claim Reviewed!

Matrix Claims Services
claim handling:

Step 1
Review insurance policy coverage, policy endorsements, date and cause of loss, verify loss is covered under your insurance policy, review insurance carrier’s estimate and correspondence for overlooked and missed applied coverages
Physial Damage Assessment
Step 3
Engineering, forensic accountants for business loss coverage, forensic weather data reports, equipment and inventory specialists to prepare sound reasoning for the valuation we place on your rebuild cost
File Claim
Step 5
Negotiate and settlement of YOUR claim
Process Claim
Step 2
Xactimate (estimating software), IGuide 3D floor plans and video, photos of interior and exterior, satellite imagery, mitigate damage assessment and reports, manage site inspections, claim correspondence and manage insurance representative meetings
Support Assessment
Step 4
Comprehensive claims report to include filing the claim with Proof of Loss.
Settlement

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