Don't come up short on insurance when it matters!

Are You Ready for This..................

or This...................

A recent article on Yahoo! touched on some good points regarding homeowner and condo insurance. As fire and water mitigation and restoration professionals we see homes that have significant damage yet do not have enough or the right coverage under their policy. 

It's not rare to receive a call for service, assess the damage and find their policy does not cover that type or all of the damage. Many homeowners incorrectly assume everything, from mitigation to drying and even the rebuild is covered under their policy. Never assume everything is covered, always ask your insurance agent and make sure you have the right kind of insurance and enough insurance. 

You might think...."I can't afford flood insurance or sewage back up insurance". The out of pocket cost of just cleaning up, drying and sanitizing your home after a large water or sewage loss will cost much more than the savings over the years by not having the proper insurance. Trust us. We see it every day.

Chicago Area Flood Map

If you live in the Chicago land area you know the past two summers have seen some heavy rain storms. I remember our office getting calls nearly ever minute requesting service. Servpro of Ravenswood literally received hundreds of calls over those first two days.

We noticed certain areas were affected more than others. The map below is from an article in the Wells Park Bull Dog that does a nice job illustrating where basements are more prone to flooding. This is pretty consistent with what we saw last year in June and July.

If you have property in the areas with a high risk of basement flooding it would be a good idea to look into adding sewage backup or flood backup to your current policy. You might be surprised to find out you are not covered for certain types of damage under your regular homeowners policy. If you can't afford to add sewage backup or flood coverage at least make sure your sump pumps are working properly and have a secondary power source in case of a blackout during a heavy rain storm.