How to Insure Your Roof with Home Insurance

Your home’s roof is one of the most important and expensive parts of the home. It keeps everyone inside safe, warm and dry, as well as keeps out anything unwelcome. Unfortunately, home insurance can grow a little complicated and expensive when it comes to insuring your roof. 

Carefully look at your home insurance policy regarding your roof. Some policies will pay for repairs but have limited to no coverage on replacement. There are also limits on coverage depending on where you live, the cause of damage and the condition of your roof. 

Insurance providers may not cover a roof that is old or badly damaged until the damage is fixed. They may also not cover damage that is caused by something preventable. For example, say a few shingles are loose on your roof. It’s not too bad, so you ignore it for now to save up money to fix it. The next week, it rains, and a leak breaks out where the shingles are missing, soaking your office. Your insurance provider may not cover this damage because it was preventable if you had fixed the roof before it rained. Homeowner mistakes or negligence are generally not covered under home insurance. 

Repair and Maintain Your Roof 

Before purchasing a home insurance policy, have your roof appraised by an expert and fix anything that is broken, missing or askew. Check on it after every storm, especially storms with hail, to evaluate the damage. Maintenance can not only help your home insurance policy, but it can prevent you having to file a claim. 

Improve the Roof 

Making improvements to your roof or upgrading to a hail-resistant roof can help protect your home and prevent a claim by lowering the impact of bad storms. This can also prevent denied claims due to certain circumstances that are not covered. For example, some hurricane and storm damage will not be covered in states with frequent hurricanes, such as Florida and other states along the coast. 

Review the Replacement Cost Value of Your Roof 

If you do make any changes to your roof, be sure it reflects on your insurance policy. If you make upgrades on your roof but fail to notify your insurance provider, you may not be covered for damages. This is because the value of your roof went up, but your policy was designed only to cover your original roof.