How Your Roof Impacts Your Homeowners Insurance
We are going to do something a little different for this blog post. A few weeks ago we were approached by QuoteWizard about doing a post on how roofs can impact the cost and your ability to obtain a homeowners insurance. So this post will be a guest post prepared by QuoteWizard. Make sure to click on the links to find out more information on homeowners insurance and QuoteWizard's services.
The roof of a home is one of the most important parts of a house. It protects the structure of the home from a vast array of elements that can assault it throughout the year. Your roof's age and quality is a vital part of your home insurance policy. There are many factors involving your roof that can affect your ability to get homeowners insurance. These include:
1. LOCATION
Location has a significant impact on the condition of a roof. Being located in Arizona, the extreme heat with average summer temperatures topping 100 degrees can impact the structural integrity over the long-haul and may affect your ability to get a policy. Keep this in mind when looking at a home. While the heat is unavoidable, the summer monsoon season can bring extreme downpours that can test the integrity of your roof. You need to be wary of who installed your roof. If you are one of the do-it-yourself characters having built it with cheap materials can have results that may bite you in the back. Cedar shingles, for example, are extremely flammable. Insurers will certainly consider that when pricing your policy. It may also be good to find out why the house is up for sale in the first place. You don’t want to find out it’s vacant because they left due to damage or wear and tear caused by extreme weather.
2. AGE
Time takes a serious toll on a roof. With roofs 20 years old or more, many agencies will not write a new homeowners policy. Those that do provide such coverage will more than likely only pay the actual cash value for the roof. That means the agency will not pay for full roof replacement, but use the age of the roof to price its current value. You will definitely want to know the roof repair and replacement history of any house you look at. If the roof is over 20 years old, you have more than likely gone past the life expectancy of the roof. In addition, there are many issues that are invisible without an inspection. That can include mold, rot, or leaks. This can cut down the chances of getting a policy for your home. It can also show problems that you may not have the money set aside to take care of. Most agencies require an inspection on roofs in the 15-20 year span, so they can find any problems that do exist.
3. MATERIALS
The basic types of roofing material all come with their own fire rating, which gives the roof’s fire risk a grade. The rating must meet or exceed the requirements of the agency before they’re going to cover it. As mentioned earlier, roofs made of wood shakes or shingles, for instance, are very flammable. This is a risk that the agency may consider too high to cover. Roofing materials such as slate are much more flameproof, and much less of a potential claim hazard.If the house has had a roof replacement job in the past, it’s good for you to know the scope of the replacement. It is very expensive to perform a full re-shingling of a roof. A common fix is to add a top second layer of shingles if the roof only has one layer and needs a redo. This tends to be a cheaper option than stripping the roof all the way. The downside of this option is that agencies often exclude roofs with more than one layer of shingles. In some cases, an agency will make an exception and provide for a roof with two layers or less. With this in mind, it’s good to check with how each of them treat the matter when shopping around. Due to Arizona’s heat, shrinking and blistering is a big concern. The heat is unavoidable, which can cause the underlying layers of your roof to shrink, crack, and blister. This affects the whole integrity of your home as the roof is one of the most important structures. In closing, a full roof inspection will resolve many future and current coverage problems. It will also reduce the risk of rejection when shopping for a policy. In some cases, such as a natural disaster or extreme storm, there is nothing you can do about it. Choosing a proper roofing company can go a long way and save you a lot of money in the space of time. You need to choose a company who knows what they are doing.
