The siding on your home is a decorative and functional component to your property. As such, it needs proper attention and maintenance to keep it looking and working at its best. There are various situations that can cause it to fail. Sometimes, those are concerns you cannot control. Will Oklahoma home insurance help cover those costs? It really depends on a variety of factors. Here’s more information.
What Caused the Damage?
Before going any further with a siding claim, your home insurance agent needs to know the cause of the damage. Home insurance typically does not cover damage from normal wear and tear. It does not cover damage from reckless behavior by the homeowner or someone living in the home. It also does not cover any situation in which poor maintenance and upkeep caused the damage to occur.
When can it help you? It applies to situations where the damage is due to unavoidable conditions. Here are some examples that may apply:
- A tree fell in the middle of a storm. It took down the siding as a part of the process. Insurance can pay for the cleanup and repairs.
- The home caught on fire due to an electrical problem. The insurance company is paying for items damaged by fire, and structural damage is covered.
- Someone vandalizes your home, damaging the siding in the process.
- A hailstorm creates a number of large marks on the side of the home’s siding. This covers much of the area and puts the internal structure at-risk.
- Strong winds tear off a portion of the siding. The insurance company may cover the repairs.
In all situations, your home insurance agent will inspect the situation to determine what happened. Then, he or she will take a closer look at your policy to determine the level of protection you have.
What About Matching Siding?
There’s also a concern about finding new pieces of siding that match your existing siding in situations where the insurer needs to make repairs. If this is not possible to do, the insurance company may try to approve replacing all of the siding on the home. In most cases, this only happens if it is impossible to repair the siding to the state it was in before the damage occurred.
Home insurance may help you recover some of your losses if you have damage. Take photos to document what happened, too. There are time limits on when you can file a claim, based on when the damage took place. It’s a good idea to call your agent right away when you notice the damage.
