a home insurance question for the home owners out there...
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
United States
June 18, 2009 12:41am CST
we had a roof leak in the bathroom in april and i had started to file a claim with the home insurance but then realized it was only needing a simple patch job and would be under our deductible so i cancelled the claim.. well last week the roof started leaking again in the same area.. i thought maybe the patch was done wrong so i called the guy out and he said we needed a new roof because of how the shingles and pad or something were and left.. well i told that to the insurance lady and she is trying to say its not storm related even though the only time we got the leaks were after tornadoes and not the many rains in between!! then she brought up that she saw we had said it before and she doesnt seem to beleive me when i said i got it fixed before hand.. so now im waiting for a new roofer (the old one didnt do new roofs just patch jobs) and hope he says its storm damage or else im out the whole amount for the roof..
has anyone ran into this? like where you had a problem got it fixed and dropped the claim just to have it happen again and then them acting like you are trying to screw them over? i mean obviously its been months so its not like i have been letting it rain in my house the whole time and i KNOW it has to be the storms that did it..
im just beyond mad because i dont have the money for this! not to mention we have had a lot of rain since the latest leak so i have a water fall in my bathroom! any advice?
and the roof isnt that old i mean maybe 10 and every where but the leak in perfect condition.. so how could it be defective if its in the one area?!?!
2 responses
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
18 Jun 09
Your leak may be coming from a completely different part of the roof. Leaks have a tendency to, uh, move. Rain may get in one spot, run between that spot and your ceiling, then start coming through the ceiling nowhere near where the actual leak is. I know. It happened to me.
As for storm damage, I had a leak once after a really bad storm where the rain seemed to be coming in sideways... could've been a tornado nearby, I don't know. Anyway, the insurance company said it was an "Act of God" and refused to pay for it! Like, HUH?????
We did have a small tornado touch down near our house once and blew our chimney over. The repairman who looked at it was so very cool! He asked what our deductible was, then said he'd add that amount onto the bill that we had to show the insurance company but he wouldn't charge us that amount. That way, we didn't have to pay the deductible! (It was only $50.00...not much.) I know, I know... insurance fraud but, aren't most insurance companies frauds anyway? They'll promise you everything before you sign up, then try to wiggle their way out of paying for any and all damages that they can. I detest insurance companies!
As for a 10-year-old roof, some roofs are only guaranteed for 10 years, which sucks. If your roof is guaranteed for more than that, you should contact whomever installed it because it would be on their shoulders.
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
19 Jun 09
we werent told when we bought the house who did the roof =( my deductible is 1,000! so im like CRAP! and i dont wanna know what a roof costs and get this.. the roof guy was suppose to come out today but got hurt on the job and taken to the ER an hour before our appt.. what luck do i have?!?!
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
19 Jun 09
Good grief! I hope he's not too badly hurt, but that sure doesn't help you right now! AND, more rain is coming! Maybe you could buy a large tarp and tie it down to your roof for the time being? I know it wouldn't look pretty but it's better than having that extra shower in your bathroom!
Also, you really don't want to know how expensive they are. I had a new roof put on my old house about 11 or 12 years ago and it cost around $7,000.00.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
21 Jun 09
no way of tarping it when you have me and hubby both with fibro and clumsy lol.. we lucked out and missed the rain that was suppose to hit today.. the roof guy finally came and he said it was hail damage and is gonna make the insurance pay for it and he quoted like 2,500 (our house is REALLY tiny) our deductible is 1k but at least i have that in savings.. but now he has to wait for the insurance to say ok then start so it may be a week.. so with my luck there will be more storms sigh
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
21 Jun 09
I hope by now you have found some resolution....a few years back we had hail damage to our roofs here in town....they went down the street writing the check out and we didn't have a problem.....some people however that didn't have our same insurance company ....well all their claims were disputed.....hopefully you got this worked out! If you didn't I tell them I would find a new insurance company.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
21 Jun 09
this roof guy finally came out and he said its hail damage and we need a new roof so i sent it all off to the insurance.. now its waiting for them to just ok it and then get it done.. shouldnt have any more problems (i hope) but my luck has been so bad lately im scared to be optimistic
