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We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence. Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.

The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.

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A fierce storm topples a tree, which crashes through your roof. The gaping hole above your bedroom is bad enough, but now the rain is destroying everything in the room. You have a homeowners policy, but will it cover the structural damage and your ruined mattress and hardwood floor?

Water damage is much more common than you might think. Frozen pipes burst in winter, washing machine hoses leak and sprinkler systems malfunction. Homeowners insurance covers damages caused by a broad range of calamities, including water damage, in some cases.

So when does homeowners insurance cover water damage, exactly? It depends on what caused the water damage. Water damage caused by a burst pipe is almost always covered. For example, if your pipe freezes and bursts, it’s likely your pipe and the water damage are covered under insurance (minus your deductible).

How coverage applies gets even more complex, though. A major dishwasher leak could be covered — or your claim could be denied. It all depends on the maintenance you’d performed up to that point. If you knew the dishwasher was having issues and didn’t deal with it, your insurer could argue that you were negligent and the water damage could have been prevented, which means your claim would be denied. It’s important to review the “Duties in the Event of a Loss” section of your homeowners insurance policy to understand what to do to prevent further damage should a claim situation occur.

Flood damage is almost always excluded under a standard homeowners insurance policy. You’ll generally need a separate flood insurance policy for this type of coverage.

HO-3 policies are the most common homeowners insurance policies on the market. These versatile policies offer open perils coverage for your home and detached structures. Meaning that many scenarios where your home or detached garage is damaged due to water can be covered unless your policy specifically excludes the peril. Under the HO-3 policy form, your personal property coverage also accounts for 16 named perils, meaning that it has to be a listed peril in your policy to repair or replace your personal belongings.

Typically, you don’t need to worry whether or not your homeowners policy will cover water damage, because it will in many cases. However, it’s important to understand what scenarios are covered under your policy and in what scenarios your claim could be denied.

This is probably where your mind goes first if you’re wondering what type of water damage is covered by homeowners insurance. Does homeowners insurance cover water damage from rain? If it’s storm damage, generally yes. But does home insurance cover floods? Almost always, no.

If a storm breaks a window and rain damages the furniture and sheetrock in your living room, your dwelling coverage will usually pay for the repairs to your walls and floor, subject to your deductible and limits. Likewise, your personal property coverage will usually cover your furniture.

However, if you happened to leave your window open and forget to close it before a rainstorm moves into the area, resulting in the rain coming in and damaging your furniture, your insurance claim to repair or replace your furniture would likely be denied.

Standard home insurance policies also don’t cover flood losses. Floods (along with earthquakes) are almost always specifically excluded from home insurance policies. So if those heavy rains lead to water pooling into your house, your standard policy won’t cover the damage. Homeowners can purchase flood insurance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program.

In most cases, your dwelling coverage will pay to repair damages caused by an overflow of water from appliances, but only when the overflow occurs accidentally and suddenly. For instance, if a sock somehow blocks your washing machine’s water outflow hose and floods your laundry room, your dwelling coverage should cover the ensuing damage. If the water damages other items in the laundry room, like a dryer or cabinets, your personal property coverage should cover the losses.

However, your homeowners policy won’t cover water overflow from appliances if your own neglect led to the problem. For instance, if you remove your washer’s drip pan and make a conscious decision not to replace it and water destroys your floor over a period of months, the insurer won’t pay for the damage.

When a pipe suddenly springs a leak or breaks due to an accident, your first thought upon discovering the mess will probably be about whether or not your homeowners insurance will cover the damage. Good news: dwelling coverage should cover the ensuing water damage. For instance, if you reach for a heavy iron skillet under your sink and crack a pipe while pulling it out of the cabinet, you should have a covered loss, and your claim would likely be honored. Under the same circumstances, your personal property coverage should pay to replace or repair items such as rugs. If damage to your cabinets occurs, your dwelling coverage should repair or replace them.

But if leaking pipes cause damage due to improper maintenance, the insurer will deny the claim. For example, the insurance company can deny your claim if a leaking pipe worsens and results in long-term damage such as mold or wet/dry rot.

In most cases, your dwelling and personal property coverages will pay for water damage resulting from extinguishing a fire. If a grease fire destroys your kitchen and water used by firefighters rushes into your living room, destroying flooring, furniture and sheetrock, your policy should cover the damages.

But, if negligence led to the fire starting, the insurer may not cover the fire or water damage. For instance, if your stove was previously inspected and the inspector noticed a hose was old, worn-out and needed to be replaced, and you failed to do so, the insurer may deny the entire claim due to negligence.

Does homeowners insurance cover water damage from rain? We’ve already discussed some direct impacts above, but there’s another piece to consider: what if water from a sewer or outside drain backs up into your house after heavy rain?

Generally, if the backup originally occurred off your property, such as in the street, then the ensuing damage could be covered by your insurer. However, if the water backed up on your property, standard home insurance policies don’t generally cover this type of water damage. You’ll usually have the option to purchase additional sewer backup coverage to add to your home policy to step in should you ever face this issue.

When water damage occurs, you need to take a few steps before you file a claim:

After you’ve taken steps to secure your belongings and prevent further damage, it’s time to start preparing to file an insurance claim:

Performing regular home maintenance is the best way to prevent water damage:

When preparing your homeowners insurance claim, take photos of all water-damaged areas, including damage to your home’s structure and personal belongings like furniture and rugs. If water damage has destroyed personal items, remove them from the affected areas, but do not throw them away in case the claims adjuster wants to inspect them.

Standard homeowners policies don’t cover flood damage. However, if you live in an area prone to flooding, you can purchase flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program.

It depends. If the mold is the result of damage caused by a covered peril, such as a heavy rainstorm, your homeowners policy might cover mold remediation. However, many standard home insurance policies exclude mold damage.

Generally, yes, but you may want to consider that there are numerous ways for ice or snow to damage your home. “The weight of ice and snow” is considered a named peril and is covered by most home insurance policy types. This means that if a snowstorm piles on enough snow to cause the collapse of your roof, the resulting damage — water and otherwise — is likely covered. Ice storms can often cause ice dams along your roof, which can cause water to seep into your home; luckily, ice dams are frequently covered by insurance. However, if your roof has existing weaknesses and ice or snow seeps in and creates interior water damage, coverage may depend on the specifics of the situation.

Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. Bankrate is compensated in exchange for featured placement of sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. This compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear. Bankrate.com does not include all companies or all available products.

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