How to Take out Insurance That Covers Your Roof Properly

Insurance is often fraught with loopholes and complexities, and when there are issues with your roof, it often won’t cover certain aspects. In this article, we will explore how insurance works with roofs so that you know what is involved so you can properly advise your clients.

Policy Tips

Before home-owners can take out a roof-covering policy, they should take out these factors first:

Improper Maintenance

The majority of insurance policies will not pay claims if the damage caused to the roof was due to improper maintenance. Before homeowners purchase any insurance, they should check what improper maintenance means and includes. Maintenance generally should involve clearing gutters, treating roofs for mould, ensuring regular inspections, and keeping any trees around the roof trimmed.

Materials

Not all materials are covered by roof insurance policies, so before repairing or building roofs, check which materials are covered and which are not. Due to extra maintenance costs, insurance companies will often not accept a claim relating to “green” roofs, or materials such as slates or recycled slates.

20+ years?

If roofs are over 20 years old, there is a high chance insurance policies will not cover them. This is because insurance companies see these roofs as nearing a time of replacement, and profit-wise, this does not make sense to them. It is also important to understand what constitutes a roof’s age. Some insurers will say that the oldest shingle is the age of the roof. Therefore, even if you repair one half of a roof, it may be uncoverable by a policy.

Reimbursement

Even if you can claim, how much homeowners will receive varies from company to company. Some will pay for complete replacement while others will cover half the cost. Some policies will take into consideration the age of the roof, and may pay less as the age increases. Before homeowners take out a policy, make sure they ask about the claims process and what they will be entitled to.

What Should It Cover?

After that, you may be left asking: what should roof insurance policies cover? As it turns out; a variety of things:

Roof Damage

Insurance should cover roof damage, so long as the roof has been properly maintained. This includes coverage due to fires, vandalism, and storms, tornedos and hurricanes. However, these do not often happen in Queensland. Homeowners should be more concerned with damage from hail, extreme rain, and other weather-related occurrences.

Leaking

Most people want to claim roof-insurance when their roofs are leaking. If this is due to age, wear and tear, or lack of maintenance, it is unlikely to be covered by their insurance.

Contact Rollsec for More Information

If you would like to find out more about roof insurance, or anything from roofing supplies to accessories, call Rollsec on 07 3041 4980, or contact us online.