Your homeowners' insurance policy is designed to protect your home and the items inside in case of an unexpected event. This may include your pipes bursting inside of your home, a thief burglarizing your home or a fire damaging your home. But, while homeowners insurance policies cover many unexpected events, they also exclude many events as well. Before you buy any home insurance policy, it is important to read through the contract and find out what is included and excluded. Here are a few things that are not typically covered by your homeowners' insurance. 

Earth Movements

Most standard home insurance policies excluded earth movements. Earth movements typically include landslides, mudslides, sinkholes and earthquakes. If one of these events occurs and your home is damaged or destroyed, your insurance will not be able to help you if Earth movements are excluded. 

Flooding Caused By Weather Elements

Flooding and home insurance policies can be confusing. Your home insurance policy will typically cover flooding that occurs within your home. This includes flood damage caused by a water heater bursting, a toilet overflowing or a pipe leaking into your home. But if the flooding is caused by creeks or rivers that have flooded over due to heavy rains or heavy rains from hurricanes, the flood damage is not likely to be covered under a traditional home insurance policy. 

Poor Maintenance

It is your responsibility to properly maintain your home. This includes maintaining your roof, pipes and other structural elements. If the damage is done to your home because you did not properly maintain your home, the insurance company will likely deny your claim. This is very common with roofs. If your roof caves in because of heavy amounts of snow on the roof, the damage may be covered. But if your roof caves in because it is old and not maintained, it won't be covered. 

Poor or Faulty Repairs

The last item not typically covered by homeowners insurance is poor repair. If you hire a contractor to make repairs or renovations to your home, and they cause damage to it, your homeowners' insurance won't help you. Always make sure the contractor you are working with has insurance coverage so you can go after their insurance in this situation. 

Every homeowner's insurance policy is different. As such, it is important to ask your insurance agent what is included and what is not included. Certain items that are typically excluded, such as floods starting outside of the home or Earth movements, may be covered with additional add-on policies that cost more money. Other items, such as poor maintenance, are typically never covered. Knowing what is and what is not covered helps to ensure you do not have any surprises if damage occurs to your home. 

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