If we have been told we have black mold in our central heating and cooling system will home owners insurance -

only if it resulted from a incident that was considered covered.

Example:

Water pipe breakage ensues damage to drywall, flooring, and furniture. Clean-up and dry out by insurance company. They all pat themselves on the back and say "Good job!" and leave you to go on living.

Several months later, mold & mildew result from the original damage. Guess the job was not as well done as we hoped.

Limited coverage up to the policy declared limit unless you bought extra mold/mildew extended coverage on the policy which ranges as little as average $60/year to as high as $170/year depending on geographical location and how much extra you buy and still subject to your deductible. Will this cost to repair extned more than $100 above your deductible?

If the mold/mildew grow to just grow, traditionally there is no coverage. However, the language I gave you is based on the standard of the ISO (Insurance Service Office) that establishes the general overall language for insurance policy wording. Some companies do not observe all of the recommended ISO standards and may have varied the language and allowed extra coverage or less coverage but to never be less than the State's minimum guidelines for home insurance.

In essence, contact the agent representing your home insurance policy and discuss the scenario as it happened. He/she should be able to assist you on the language, but also consult your policy pages in the inclusion/exclusion SECTION I (area for coverage of Dwelling Coverage) regarding specifically mold/mildew.

Please recognize any claim filed is a claim filed regardless of its later request to withdraw it or if it does not pay you anything. Also, once you have claimed mold/mildew damage, then it is harder to buy the extra coverage for the mold & mildew because of history of the claim type. This is basically advice telling you, always claim wisely. One can never deny you the right to claim, but we can provide guidance to choose when you should or should not.

Good luck. If you have more questions or the specific scenario, you are welcome to IM me or email me direct with the situation so I can look up the your State's legal statutes and help you locate the language within your policy pages if you do not have an insurance agent to guide you.

kimche_spicy@yahoo.com same IM ID

If you can identify the mold and how best to kill it without spreading it, please do so. Not all bleach is the answer to "kill" mold and mildew as it actually aids in the spread of spores throughout other areas causing it to latch on and grow more.

Mold and mildew growth is a result from humidity environment that can result from non-sealed concrete in the slab to your central a/c system kept to triger at higher temperatures instead of allowing the a/c to pull out the moisture. Check window breaches as well. The best way is to get a moisture meter and place it on walls and floors in various areas. A higher reading will tell you it is a source problem. Average reading should be between 8-10.

Some carpet cleaning companies are also mold/mildew restoration people. They should be certified in which they can inject your duct system and inside the walls a kill treatment to prevent further growth and to eradicate the existing if it has not ensued damage to property structure.

edit add:

Most states have protection against non-renewal for a single claim. Traditionally non-renewal occurs when you have excessivley claimed within a specific time period (i.e. 3 or more claims within a 3 yr period or more than 2 or more liability claims within a 5 year period) or you have claimed but did not show burden of proof of 100% repair after having claimed and not received a claim payment or been paid for the repair of the claim.

The reason for excessive claiming is each claim no matter how little it pays out uses the resources of at least 4 payroll people to process your claim. So to excessively claim is to excessivley use those resources. Also, if you haven't 100% repaired the situation and it happens again, then it is hard to value old damage vs. new damage. Think of it as if you had a car dent and never repaired it, then you get another car dent near the old one or practically on top of it, then how can I separate the value of repair cost between the 2?

For instance, the State of Florida will not allow hurricane/named storm (tropical storms are included in the list) damage claims to be counted against you as a claim filed. Why it is important to discuss this with your agent of record which appears on your policy pages along with the contact number.