With virtually any type of water intrusion into your home comes the possibility of mold formation. Whether you suffered damage to your roof during a hurricane that then allowed rainwater into your home that you never even knew was there, a pipe burst and some of the leaking water sat unbeknownst to you underneath the tile flooring, or virtually any other type of water loss can lead to the formation of mold. Especially in a hot and humid climate like Florida, mold spores can form in as little 24-48 hours, and an entire colony of mold can spread unchecked without you even having any idea it is there until you or a family member start experiencing respiratory issues, or you see a spot where the mold has appeared on a baseboard, and you pull it up only to reveal a huge colony underneath. If left untreated, mold can spread unchecked and lead to further property damage and risks to both you and your family’s health.
Mold can cause pre-existing respiratory issues to worsen and can also cause someone to develop such breathing problems without ever having such issues before. However, mold can be a difficult type of loss for homeowners to recover the full amount of their damages from their insurer given that many insurance policies have very specific criteria for the types of mold claims they may cover. In addition, many insurance policies will have exclusions that either limit the amount they pay for mold-related claims or the types of mold-related claims that will be covered by the insurance policies issued by the insurer. Therefore, if you have experienced mold-related damage to your home in Palm Beach County or anywhere in South Florida, it is important to have an experienced and aggressive public adjuster like David Flaks of PubAdjuster to represent you in connection with your mold-related claim in your dealings with your insurer.
Mold Insurance Claims and Homeowner’s Insurance Coverage
There are two distinct issues that impact every mold-related insurance claim. The first is what caused the mold to form in the first place and the second is how much mold is present and what it will cost to remove the mold.
First, the mold has to be caused by what most insurance policies refer to as a “covered peril” for most homeowner’s insurance policies to cover it. If water floods your home from a clogged pipe or part of the roof is torn off during a windstorm and rain that is dumped into your home as a result causes mold to form, then usually you will not have a problem because both of those are considered covered perils under most insurance policies. However, if your home floods and the flooding was not caused by something covered by your insurance policy, then in many cases, the formation of any mold and the costs of remediating that mold may not be covered by your insurer.
Many insurers have also developed sub-limits for mold coverage, meaning that the insurer will only pay a set limit for any damage to your home or repairs needed in order to remediate mold, no matter how much mold is present or how much the necessary remediation will cost to get rid of this health hazard. Therefore, even if it costs $20,000 to truly get rid of all the mold present in your home, if your policy has a mold sub-limit of $10,000, then the maximum your insurer will pay towards the costs of remediation is $10,000. This would leave you paying $10,000 out of pocket given your policy’s mold sub-limit.
Games Played By Insurers in Response to Mold Claims
Given that many different causes can lead to the water build-up in your home that eventually leads to the formation of mold, many Insurers may try to mid-classify a mold claim caused by something that would be covered by your insurance policy into something else altogether. Insurers like to play a game in which they assert that mold clearly caused by a covered peril under your policy was caused by something else that is not covered. An insurer may also try to claim that the costs of remediation are far less than they actually are, by claiming that only spot repairs are necessary where an entire ceiling needs to be replaced where mold has formed as a result of damage to your home from a hurricane. These are two reasons it is important to have your own public adjuster to catch the insurer if it is trying to play these types of tricks with your mold-related claim to ensure you recover the full compensation that is due to you under your insurance policy.
Contact PubAdjuster if You Have Any Mold Insurance Claims and You Need Assistance in Recovering Maximum Compensation from Your Insurer
If you have suffered any type of loss or damage to your home in which water intruded into your home’s interior, you may be in danger of mold formation. Regardless of how the water got into your home, the formation of mold is always a danger in a hot, humid climate like Florida’s. Regardless of the cause of how the water intruded into your home, whether it was a hurricane tearing a hole in your roof and then dumping torrential rain in or a burst pipe that caused water to accumulate in places you could not even see, insurers know how to play tricks with mold-related claims that a homeowner may not even see coming. Therefore, if you discover mold in your home in Boca Raton or South Florida, your best bet is to call an experienced public adjuster like David Falks of PubAdjuster to assist you in obtaining full compensation for your mold-related insurance claim. David is familiar with the tricks that insurers may try to play in order to either deny your mold-related claim or claim repairs will cost far less than they actually will, and he will fight for you to recover every penny of the compensation that you deserve. Contact him today at (561) 212-0239 or david@pubadjuster.com.