Leaking pipe damage is a common type of claim seen in the insurance claims industry. As a home or business owner, you may have hundreds, even thousands of feet of pipe carrying water from one room to the next consisting of many separate pieces linked together. Whether your structure is old or new, you need to keep the inspection of water lines and pipes on your checklist of regular home maintenance.
Understanding Plumbing Leak Claims
More common are the leaks under the kitchen sink and behind the wall in the bathroom. If you have a basement, regularly check the area of the floor just under the bathtub or bathroom sink for any discoloration. Have a plumber stop out for yearly or twice yearly maintenance and remove the faucets and inspect for cracked seals or slow drips. A plumber can use a small lighted camera to view the dark areas inside the wall behind your tub or sink and may be able to spare you some costly future repairs from leaking pipe damage.
Pipe leaks under the slab foundation of a home are particularly costly to repair. Slab leaks can cause an area of earth to hollow out under your home and make your foundation much less secure. A home can list to one side, ever so slightly, but just enough to cause new leaks around the roof and foundation of the home. As it progresses, wall cracks or even broken windows will occur. At this point there is a very costly claim in the making and likely to be denied by your insurance carrier because it was not a sudden or catastrophic leak. A public adjuster can help you wade through the claim process of leaking pipe damage and will ensure that you are fairly compensated for any portion of the claim that is covered.
We had leaky pipes from the upstairs shower growing up and I can still remember waking up to a loud crash and seeing that the ceiling below in the kitchen had fallen in. That was an expensive repair that we are still dealing with to this day. Is paying to have a plumber come out once or twice a year to make sure everything is still good worth it? I would have to say yes. It’s a lot better than having to rebuild a ceiling and a floor!