Any homeowner's insurance adjusters out there?

[Colleen A.]

I'm waiting for our insurance company to get back to us. I had submitted a claim a few months ago when I discovered some serious mold growing along one side of our house When the adjuster came out, he said the only way it would be covered would be if it was caused by water damage. We decided we needed to wait til spring to try and do this ourselves since it is going to involve removing the interior walls down to the studs and it is a bit to nippy out there to do it now! Anyway, when we moved furniture around in my son's room the other day, we noticed A LOT of mold on the wall, but close to the floor. That would lead me to believe that the moisture is coming in from the ground up! The entire neighborhood where we live was a swamp ages ago and they filled it in with soil before they built. I know my neighbors have had to call in professionals to get the mold out of their basements (we only have a crawl space, not a basment). To let you know how soggy our ground is, from now to May I have to wear snow boots in the back yard when I hang out the clothes because the ground is so muddy (my clothes props usually sink over a foot!!) I called the insurance company to ask them if the water is coming into the house from the ground, would that be considered 'water damage'

Either way, there's some major work being done in a few months!

 

[ahutton]

but usually ground water is not a "covered cause of loss" on a homeowners insurance policy. What would be is an exploded or broken pipe, and the resulting water damage. In many jurisdictions mold is not covered at all, as it is not a sudden and unexpected event but rather something that occurs over time.

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

mold is acutally a hot issue right now -- lots of litigation as to whther it's covered under the homeowners policy. you need to get aggressive with your insurer and force them to either pay the claim or deny it so that you can examine your other options.