Water Damage Prevention and Education
When we look at our Harbour claims data over the past 19 years the top 3 homeowners’ financial losses are:
1. Hurricane / wind damage to the home.
2. Storm surge / flood damage (flood being defined as “a rising body of water”).
3. Water damage from a broken pipe or appliance.
Our job as agents is to help you get the best coverage for when a loss occurs AND try to help you prevent having a loss. For the next 6 months (during the hurricane off season) we are going to focus some of our time with our clients helping them prevent these large water losses. This will be the first of 3 educational emails you will receive on the matter.
Here are a few examples of what causes “water damage”:
A. A broken plumbing line behind a wall
B. A water heater valve that bursts
C. A dishwasher or washing machine connection that breaks.
D. A toilet plumbing connection uncouples.
The typical water damage claim we see is a low frequency but high severity event (It does not happen often but when it does it is big). In fact, only 1/60 homeowner’s claims are water damage per the Insurance Institute of America; but when they happen, they are large claims that often damage enough of the home that you have to move out for months and take a lot of your time building your house back.
Recently a client of ours had a nasty water claim. They went away for a week on vacation and came back to open the door to their home to see an inch of water all thru their first floor of their home. Fortunately, they had a comprehensive policy that covered the water mitigation, repair, and cost to rent a house while they spent 6 months putting their house back together. Insurance can make you “whole” financially but can’t replace the time you lose and the emotional energy you spend to get back to normal.
So how can you prevent these large water claims? One easy way is to simply turn the main water valve off when you leave the house for an overnight trip. That is a good start, but pipes break and create damage while you are at work or running errands during the day.
There are some great technological advances that can help you monitor water use and, in some situations, automatically turn off your water to your home when there is a potential leak. Here is a great article to read about them.
My two favorite water detection and shutoff products are: 1. Flo Logic . Very reliable product and has good recognition with plumbers and GCs. Depending on the model and size of your home the unit costs $700-$2000 to install. Contact your GC or plumber to install.
2. Watershield by Florida Power and Light (Florida clients only). Reliable product – A Moen product backed by FPLs service. No installation or upfront hardware costs. Harbour Insurance has negotiated a preferred deal with FPL of $9.99 a month for the 1st year and $15.99 a month starting year 2. It is usually $19.99. Use the discount code of “WSHARBOUR”. For more info, click the link below and view the attached flyer on the product.
Our homes are often our biggest financial assets and a place where we rest and live, raise our families and have friends over to make memories. It only makes sense to protect them from a large water loss that will take time and resources to fix.
An ounce of prevention is worth a ‘gallon’ of cure 😊
