December 13, 2025 • 44 mins
In this hour of at home with Gary Sullivan, Gary dives into homeowner's insurance with special guest Beth Harper, a knowledgeable insurance broker. They discuss the importance of maintaining your home to avoid costly claims, and how insurance companies view maintenance-related issues. Beth shares real-life examples of how contractors and homeowners can make mistakes that lead to denied claims. They also touch on the impact of frozen pipes, ice dams, and mold on insurance coverage. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to navigate the world of homeowner's insurance and protect their most valuable asset.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
All right, it's the weekend. Thanks for joining me. You're
at home with Garry Sullivan and well, let's get back
to the phone calls. At the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about homeowner's insurance. Beth Harper will
be joining us, and a lot of information on roofs
and changing insurance and working with a broker and flood
(00:51):
damage of the house. I just love to chat with
her and she shines a light on a lot of things.
We just went through examining our home owners insurance extensively,
and you got to make some decisions. I mean, it's
kind of like going to the casino. You're making a
bed on this probably ain't gonna happen. Or may you
(01:12):
increase your deductible? I think you'll find it interesting And
that'll be at the bottom of the hour. In the meantime,
we got Bob Bob welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Hey Gary, this is Bob.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
How are you doing fine? Thank you? Hey.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I have a kind of an advice question. I have
an older home and they put in an addition, a
dining room edition on the house, and obviously they did
a hip roof style addition which created up in the attic.
You know this kind of void area where they went
over the existing deck and I naturally got some valleys
(01:50):
on the backside of that hip roof, and it's created
some ice damning issues in the past, and I'm just
kind of curious, is anything that I can do from
an installation standpoint inside that area, whether it be a
rigid board, foam or actually put insulation down or any
(02:11):
thoughts there.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, yeah, I will tell you. It's a hard question
to answer over the phone without seeing it. I mean,
I know your problem. Hip roofs are notorious problems for
getting them fully insulated. Do you have a hip wall
up there, kind of like a half wall? It does?
It is not?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It literally just like a frames right into the existing roof.
And in fact, they even left the shingles on there
from the old home. And about five years ago I
had a new roof put on. I had them pull
those shingles off, so I got exposed one by six
decking up there that that's kind of in that space.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, So so what part are you thinking of insulaying?
Since I can't really see it, are you thinking about
insulating the underside of the roof?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
For well, that's where that's where my question is would
I be better doing that if I'm gonna do something,
or would I do the decking of it.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, well, if you can get to the decking and
you're bringing are you do you you have ventilation in
that area, correct or no?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, we have ventilation and obviously other installation throughout the
rest of that.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So if you can get and keep that ventilation, because
that comes, that becomes important. Also you could do if
you can keep the ventilation and do the floor and
maybe the side to create some warmth, that may be
(03:44):
enough to solve the problem. Okay, if you looked at
what they call whole house encapsulation, then you would be
eliminating the ventilation, which is different than we're are used
to doing, and you would be encapsulating the sides and
(04:05):
the underpart of the roofing. So you allow that to
become a little bit of a conditioned space. Okay, you're
not putting a furnace up there or anything like that,
but you're gonna have heat radiating from the house, and
you're gonna buffer that heat so it doesn't melt the
snow too fast and the roof and then in the summertime,
(04:26):
when you're running the air conditioning. Some of that will
seep up there and it'll help with the radiant energy
coming through the roof. You see where I'm going, You're
kind of creating a semi conditioned area, And it really
depends which way you want to go. And what may
(04:46):
make that decision is if the conventional way with ventilation
and insulation will give you this enough protection to keep
that from happening.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, yep, it's interesting. I saw a video on that
encapsulation on YouTube this morning. I was watching it and
it was kind of intriguing how they how they do
that right?
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Right, and and that you know, again, if you can't,
you might even have you know, an insulation company come
in and and I'm not saying they got to do
the job, get a bid on it in terms of
you know, what they how they would attack it. Would
they continue to use the batting, would they use foam panels,
or would they do whole house encapsulation. And you know,
(05:32):
since they're the specialists and they got boots on the ground,
you might be able to ferret some information from them.
But I think that's the two choices you're up against.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, understood. Yeah, this original house, it was very bad
when we first bought it with the soft events. In fact,
they didn't have enough of soffit to send out, so
it wasn't getting a lot of ventilation. So what we
did was we cut some soft it's like up off
the edge of the roof onto the decking itself to
get me some of that flow.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Right, So okay, yeah, yeah, I'm only laughing because I
grew up in a house with a hip roof and
it was you know, every bit of fifteen hundred square feet.
When mom and dad had kids, that became our bedroom. Yeah, yeah,
got a little hot in the summertime.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I bet I bet, well, Gary, I really appreciate and
thanks for some support there.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You're quite welcome. Thanks for the call. Appreciate it. Take care. Yeah.
They're very common actually, and back in that day a
lot of houses weren't air conditioned and that's the way
those hip proofs were. They're tough to insulate, and there's
still a challenge and it really depends on the lay
of the land, you know, what you can do to
create you know, it's all about ventilation and insulation unless
(06:52):
you do a whole house encapsulation and that's kind of
a different ballgame. But might be the ballgame you want
to be in, right, It just depends what you can
and can't do. It sounds like he might be able
to still get enough insulation or he has the ventilation,
so he's set there. But they're all kind of designed
(07:13):
a little bit differently, and you might have different options,
and that would certainly be one of them. It kind
of pulls into the whole discussion also of checking what
you have. And I don't care if you have a
house that's ten years old or one hundred years old,
(07:36):
what kind of insulation do you have? And do you know?
It's amazing. I have said it many times. Owning a
home is probably the biggest investment ninety percent of us make.
That's the biggest investment we'll make, and so many of
us don't really know what we have, such as you know,
(08:00):
if you have a house that's prior to nineteen seventy five,
unless you or a previous owner have added insulation in
the walls, there is none. There's none. And you know,
as you talk to your friends and they have maybe
a newer home, and maybe their newer home is bigger
than your home, and you start talking energy bills, you'll
(08:24):
see that this is a problem. I mean, this is
a problem, and it can be rectified. You can have
folks come in and drill holes from the outside and
pump a foam into those walls. It may not make
current standards, but what it will do is it'll eliminate
(08:47):
drafts and be helpful. Hey, Mike, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Hello Gary, Yes, sir, thank you for taking my call.
I really enjoy your show and I can't wait to
be able to get to it every weekend, So thank
you for having it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You're quite welcome.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I just there. You had a caller earlier that was
wondering about pressure from his from to the addition of
like fifty feet long, and I just wanted to pass
on just a little tid that. Now, I'm not a
licensed plumber, but I've been doing plumbing for like twenty
seven twenty eight years or so, and so what I
would pass on to him is, in order to try
(09:25):
to keep that pressure, you're going to have to try
to find a three quarter line someplace down there and
tap off of that and run three quarter all the
way down to where you want to go up and
through your floor reduced to half inch and then three
eighths Because if you try to run half inch all
the way down there, you're you're gonna have nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, I think I missed. I did misspeak on that,
and your you're correct. And then also the other thing
which really didn't talk about is really trying to find
everything that's on that line.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Correct, correctly correct.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I was taught that by an old guy. Say, you know,
you ever seen those movies where or documentaries where they're
trying to get diamonds off the side of a mountain
and they'll run twenty four to thirty inch pike from
the ocean all the way to where they're trying to go.
By the time they get to the ocean, they've reduced
that thing so many times that they have what's what's
(10:20):
the equivalent of like a garden hose, and that thing
is blasting the side of the mountain. Now, so the
same principle applied to puban. You want to try to
keep the volume up as far as you can.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Very good, Well, thank you much for that. I appreciate it. Mike.
Very good. Let's take a break. We'll come back if
you'd like to join us. Do so.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you. At
one eight hundred and eighty two three tak you're at
home with Gary Sullivantor.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
I've used this product because my washer smelled terrible and
let me tell you it worked great. Hi, Gary Sullivan. Here,
Now my water's crystal clear. I've got real peace of
mind with Awesome Watercare. Their products remove all the hidden gunk, biofilm,
bacterium build up from hot tubs, jetted tubs, swim spots,
even washers and dishwashers. If you want your water system spotless,
(11:35):
check out Awesome dot com spelled ahh som me dot com.
You'll see and smell the difference. Soon, we're going to
be spending more time inside our home where the air
is five times worse than the outdoor air. Get that stagnant,
stuffy air out with an easy breathe and reduce airborne
particles by eighty five percent. Don't get trapped inside a
(11:57):
sick house breathing dirty, musty damp this winter right now,
Get two yumnistats with every easy Breathe purchase. Give m
a call at eight, sixty six, eight two, two, seventy three,
twenty eight or visit Easybreed dot com. For over forty years,
Dumont has made powerful pain and coating removers that are
tough on layers but save for you in the environment.
(12:18):
Try demand smart Strip Advanced. It works on over ninety
percent of the coatings. No harmful fumes, no dangerous chemicals.
Not sure what you're removing well, Demon's easy test kid
tells you exactly what you need. Find smart Strip at
you're participating Do it Best retailer Sherwin Williams or visit
Dumont Global dot com. That's Dumont Global dot com. Dumont Smart,
(12:39):
safe and proven, so do it yourself with Demon. Hey,
it's Gary Salivan for Roto Ruter plumbing and water cleanup
a company that has been trusted and recommended for generations
Coast to coast.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Roto Ruter fixes clogged.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Drains, leaky faucets, and running toilets. They repair and replace
water heaters, garbage disposals, some pumps, water softeners, and other
residential a commercial plumbing fixture.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I use routor Ruter at my house.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
And you should leave plumbing to the pros too, Call
one eight hundred, get rutto or go to rotrouter dot
com today.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Hey, we're talking a little home improvement. Thanks for joining me.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan. By the way, our
phone number if you'd like to jump on board, you can,
it's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
It just wouldn't be a good winter day if we
didn't talk about the humidity level in your home. You know,
humidity in your home crashes when it's cold outside. And
(13:42):
if you're wondering right now what your humidity should be
in your home, and let's say it's thirty degrees outside,
your humidity level should be around thirty five percent. And
if it's going down to zero, well that humidity should
probably be around Yeah, it's not gonna be as comfortable,
(14:03):
but you get any higher than that, you'll create condensation
on windows, maybe even tile surfaces. That's where condensation is
going to take place, hard slick surfaces, so you know
it's it's dry, and you also don't want to work
(14:25):
really hard at adding too much humidity. And the prime
culprit is when you're cooking or you're showering, and let's
say it's you know, really cold outside and your community
should be you know, say thirty five percent or less,
(14:46):
and you don't have that fan on, or you don't
have a fan in the bathroom, or you turn off
that fan after the shower's over and you're cooking without
a fan. That moisture that you're adding can make your
home comfortable. I mean, if you're running a humidity level
of twenty percent, you know, go ahead and enjoy that
extra moisture. Maybe it'll bump it up to thirty thirty
(15:07):
five percent. But as it dries out outside and your
home umidity still sitting around thirty five percent, you start
using a bathroom fan, or you're gonna have water rolling
down your windows or maybe rotting out the window sill,
bouncing that humidity, and we talk about it a lot
(15:28):
is really a key to a healthy home, quite honestly,
because too much moisture. Remember water is your number one enemy,
and if it starts doing damage to plaster walls underneath
a marble window sill or rotting a wood windowsill, um
(15:48):
that can get become expensive repairs or even mold. So
always pay attention to your humidity levels inside your home
regards wardless of where you're at in the seasons. Very important.
All right, let's go to Mike. Mike, welcome, Hi Gary.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
I'm sorry it turned on the phone, turned on the radio.
It's quick. My goodness, Hey, thanks for taking my call here.
I listened to you every Saturday and Sunday sometimes.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I heard you talking about this morning about frozen faucets,
outdoor faucets. For years, I've been so good about it,
unhooking the hose and h but this year the cold
came on so fast after Cleveland. Yeah, my outdoor water spicket,
I if in my garage, if the pipe comes in
(16:49):
through the length of my garage out to the spicket,
of course, and and all of a sudden I heard
a little water running, So the water was turned off.
The water started coming out of the spicot, and the
handle is frozen solid. I cannot turn it. I tried
to put a space heater on it the other day
(17:10):
when we had a little bit of a warm up.
But my question is, do you think it's the pipe
that goes through the wall that may be crap, but
or you think it could be the stem that's frozen causing.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You know what I was going to ask you the
same thing. I was going to ask you the exact
same thing. Do you think it's just jammed or you know,
you know nice ice doesn't have anything to do with it,
And you need a little pebe blaster to let that
sit there and marinate for a couple hours and see
if it turns or is it ice? If you had
a space heater on it, it could be that it
(17:46):
just needs a little you know, penetrating oil on there.
So there's no way real way of knowing unless we
open up that wall, to be honest with you, because
that's where the pipe is. Was the hose attached to it?
Speaker 4 (18:06):
No, it wasn't. I was not attached. But I, like
I said, the cold came on so fast I didn't
turn off the water in the garage. So I think
obviously with some water sitting in the stem in that.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Pipe, does that garage get that cold?
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Sometimes it does. One year that that extended pipe in
there did freeze, and I always try to blow it
out from the outside, of course, But.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Is it a frost proof or is it just a
regular piece of copper line that comes right into It's
like a boiler faucet or something like that.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
I'm sure it's not a frost.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Proof that okay, and so yeah, see, so I don't
know if that water is frozen. But did you say
you got some water out of it at one time?
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Though?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, I mean when it and I heard the water running,
the water was coming out of them, out of the
poker out.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, okay. So if it's coming out of the fun
and you can't get to that pipe, so that's the
only issue. I think what I would do, quite honestly,
I'd get some PV blaster. I'd worked out around that
stem and see if we can open it up. If
if that's not the case, you're probably gonna have to
shut off the water on the inside, use the bleeder
(19:26):
cup and go from there.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
Time to get your hands dirty with Gary Cellivan give
them a call at one eight eight two three talk
you're at home with Gary cellibrator.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
So what can make your winner easier to deal with
the answer or is blaster's industrial strengths silicon lubricn It's
perfect for snowshovels, snowblowers, and it'll keep snow from sticking
and clogging. You can use it on car doors window
gaskets to keep them from sticking and hey, s let's
go super fast too. It reduces friction while preventing rust.
Enjoy this winter and grab a can of Blaster Industrial
(20:19):
Strings Silicon lubricn at a home out of our hardware
store near you and always use Blaster products and work
it like a pro. Hey, Gary Solvent here.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Otor Exits Eliminator. It's been receiving rave reviews for years
and there's a simple reason for that. It works. Comments
like I've tried everything to get the dog urine smell
out of my carpet and sofa, but then one application
of oter Exit Eliminator and the smell was eliminated. Thank
you otor Exit. Hey, don't be unprepared for life smelly accidents.
(20:48):
Be prepared with Odor Exits Eliminator eliminate odors when they occur.
Come to otor exit dot com for the best pricing,
combos and service. Hey, Gary Solvent Here. I love products
that really work, and Jaws that just add water system
is one of my favorites.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
Just in time for the holidays, the Jaws Holiday Caddiepack
is back loaded with four gray cleaners, the glass Cleaner.
I love that kitchen, bathroom disinfecting cleaners, even a foaming
dispray perfect for your home or is a great gift
for someone Right now, you get twenty percent off in
free shipping when you use my promo code Gary at
jawscleans dot com. That's Jaws cleans dot com. Make your
(21:26):
holiday shine with Jaws. Garysalvent here for the Zalar Pump Company.
Zalor leads the way in sump pumps and battery backup
systems with continuous innovation. Now you can see the light
with their led plug illuminating Zalor green when the power
is present. You no longer have to wonder if your
sump pump hass power. The plug is always illuminated when
(21:46):
power is present. Check it out today on the popular
Zolar model sixty three and M fifty three. Go to
zalarpumps dot com the located factory certified installer in your
area zalarpumps dot com.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
All right, back at it we go. Before we get
to Beth Harper or I just want to kind of
reiterate a little something with that frozen pipe because we
got short changed on time. If the obviously if it's
an outdoor faucet, it's inside the garage and it just
trickled water and then it stopped, and he was wondering
(22:32):
whether it's the faucet that was frozen or jammed with
the stem, or whether the pipe had ice in it.
He said he put a space heater near that, and
if it were the faucet at that point and the
valve was opened, it probably would have started dripping. My
guess is it is the pipe that is frozen, and
(22:55):
the only way you're really going to take care of
that is introduced heat. Now that pipe's inside the wall.
Hopefully there's just shut off valve on knee where you
could shut off the waterline or the water going to
that particular faucet. But then somehow you're going to have
to introduce heat inside a wall, even if just a
(23:17):
little bit of an opening cut above that faucet and
a hair dryer put in there where you would kind
of warm that up. So I did want to just
make sure we finished answer and that. So Beth Harper's
with us, and she is an insurance broker, and speaking
of frozen pipes, that might be a claim down the road. Beth, welcome,
(23:37):
how are you.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
I'm wonderful, Gary, I hear you're doing awfully well as well.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I'm trying, trying my best, trying my best. It was funny.
I wrote you a couple of days ago and said, hey,
you want to jump on. I've been reading different things
about roofing and new hail requirements, and I know last
time we talked about you said insurance coverage on roof's
is really changing. So I just kind of wanted to
(24:05):
tap in and what are you hear and what are
you seeing when it comes to roofing claims and what
can people expect and should they be asking questions, et cetera.
Speaker 7 (24:18):
They should always ask questions. And what I'd like to
say is if every one of your listeners, I don't
expect any of them to ever have issues with insurance
claims because what you do is what a home owner
needs to do to protect their most important and expensive asset.
Just walk around, look around. If you're in the spring, summer, fall,
and you look around the outside of your house and
(24:40):
it looks like somebody is dribbling kitty litter around it, Garry,
you know it's not kitty litter.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Is it.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
It's all the asphalt shingles coming off, right, all that
grit right. That is your first sign as a homeowner
that not as well. Nothing as well with your roof.
You need to get a professional up there and check
it out. I always reckon men, always before all my clients.
When they call me with a claim, I say, did
you have an estimate? What did they say? Is the problem?
(25:10):
That is very crucial. I'll quick stories, real quick stories.
Contractors now know that there is a limited loss settlement
on the majority of the carryokers out there, meaning for
traditional asphalt roof at ten years, it's now actual cash value,
which is depreciation unless you're deductible, and you also lose
your cosmetic matching coverage. That endorsement will be removed from
(25:34):
your policy at that time. Now, since contractors know that
they want to help you get a new roof, the
problem with that is they don't know your policy. And
back in September I had two back to back claims
and both of them were done by a contractor that
(25:55):
gave an exact date of damage. Okay, that may be correct.
I will tell you right now, your claims adjuster knows
your policy inside it out, and they have access to
more weather information than a contractor ever will. One of
the things that happened and the claim was denied is
because it was outside of a year, So this claim
(26:18):
supposedly happened. I'm going to make dates up just protect
in case they're listening. Say the claim happened May fifth
of twenty twenty four. The policy year is, let's just
say August to August, and you put a claim in
for May in twenty twenty or I'm sorry, in July
(26:38):
of twenty twenty five. You're outside the year. There is
no coverage. And so that actually happened because that's when
the contractor picked a date. I talked to this person
in depth and there said, well, yeah, my roof is bad,
there's lots of damage up there. I need it replaced.
Why won't my insurance company replace it? Very sad. So
(27:00):
the idea here is, if you have a contractor telling
you you have damage, don't let them. Don't make up
a date. Nobody unless you went out immediately after a
storm or something happened immediately after a storm and you
know it, you don't know. You really don't know your claim.
Suggest will find out for you. So get that estimate.
(27:22):
Make sure it's somebody that isn't trying to help you.
If a contractor ever wants to see your homeowners policy,
do not give it to them. They're looking for ins
and outs. Besides containing a whole bunch of personal data,
they're looking for loopholes to get your claim covered. Well,
(27:44):
you know what, that's kind of my job. Don't let
somebody out there promise you a new roof, because once
you submit that claim, it's on the record. A homeowner's
claim stays for five years on your policy, unlike an
auto which is a round three unless it's a major violation.
That means for five years that has to replace. Now,
(28:06):
if the claim's denied, well there's damage. Now they're going
to want to know what did you do about that?
How did you mitigate that damage? And you have to
submit proof that you actually took care of it on
your dime because the claim was denied and you can
be non renewed. Now you're going to say, well, I'll
just go find another I'll find another carrier. Yeah, that's
(28:27):
my job too. You call in and say, hey, I'm
mad at my insurance carrier. They didn't pay correctly on
this claim and I want out. I'm like, okay, when
was a claim? It was last year. Well, guess what
if it's a claim that ended up being over forty
thousand dollars. That's well over a limit of one of
the ones that a carrier. If I talk to the
(28:48):
underwriter and go, hey, this is what's going on, they're
going to say that damage is forty thousand dollars. We
will not write that risk. So you end up hurting
yourself because you didn't do enough homework and talk enough
to your agent, and that impacts how you protect your
home and work.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I got to tell you, bet that a broker in
insurance is a vital connection to problems that everybody is
eventually going to have because you can talk to them
just like you're talking to us. And it was about gosh,
I think the end of the summer. Our insurance was
(29:32):
coming up from renewal, and because I had talked to you,
I suggested my wife that we need to really do
a deep dive in our insurance. And we had not
been having We had a broker that we liked and
then he sold the business and the new person we
had no relationship with it. It was just picked up
and you know, that was it. So we looked at
(29:57):
the insurance and then we got some referrals on different
brokers and my wife went and talked to him, and
she goes, we're gonna, we're gonna deal with this, lady,
and you need to come with us, and we need
to go through this whole policy and best. She spent
three hours.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
With us, and that's my normal.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
I learned so much. And in a way, I jokingly said, well,
it's like going to the casino. We're placing bets. Yes,
you know, yeah, I think earthquake. I'm gonna I'm gonna.
I'm gonna. You know, I'm not gonna do that. I'm
gonna do this. And why don't we raise this, uh,
(30:40):
you know, deductible we can you know, cover a little incident,
you know. And it was I forget where it was,
but I think we moved it up to like twenty
five hundred or may it was even a little bit more.
And you're right, you just don't want you don't want
to be worrying that insurance is not there to cover everything.
(31:01):
It's there to take the big hit. Correct.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Absolutely, it is not for maintenance. Ye back in the
old days, I'm going to say the old days were
twenty years ago. It was used a lot for maintenance,
I agree, But then we had for the past five
well for past six years. So when we started having
all those big storms that came through starting in twenty
two that affected my area real heavy, and then every
(31:29):
year there was another big storm since then. Since a
lot of that stuff they had to replace, they go
up on the roof and it's like, well, yeah, this
roof gave away. It's a maintenance issue. Everything's writted up.
You can see where the shingles are curling. They're like,
why am I replacing a roof that has real maintenance
damage from this storm versus replacing a roof that doesn't
(31:54):
have any maintenance damage. So that's changed a lot, and
quite honestly, I agree with that. People will argue with
me on that, and I'll say, okay, if you never
put oil in your car and your enginecies is up,
do you file a claim on that? Well, no, Well
it's a maintenance issue. If you, as you always talk,
(32:15):
get up there. If you don't want to get on
a ladder, call somebody to get up there. Your neighbor
has a drone, get the drone up there and take pictures.
Look at your own roof. You have to have accountability
for it. Insurance is year two year. It is not
a lifetime. Now that being said, there's loyalty built up
as well, and that loyalty isn't built up and you
(32:38):
deserve a new roof, it's built up and well. At
your renewal because you haven't had any claims, we're going
to increase your claims free discount. That's where the loyalty
comes in. But it's year to year, and which makes sense.
When you're driving, when you start out at sixteen, same thing,
it's year to year. As you continue to drive, you
(32:59):
get more. The risk drops, your insurance drops. Same thing.
You maintain your home, your wrist drops because you're maintaining it.
One of the questions you had asked about was the oh,
Gary had just lost my mind. I'm not looking at
your email.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That's all right, because I've got a couple other questions
I want to ask, and one of them with the
cold weather, we talk about ice dams, we talk about
frozen pipes, and let me take a break, Beth, and
we'll come back and address that because that is also maintenance.
I'm just curious how that works out. We'll continue. Beth Harper.
She is a insurance broker out of the Cleveland, Ohio area,
(33:39):
and she's been kind enough to give us a half
hour and chat a little bit about homeowner's insurance will continue.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
Helme for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
So your basement is dry sealed and maybe even have
some pumps, but yet the musty odor still lingers. You
need to ventilate below grade spaces. All basements and crawl
spaces need air exchanges in order to prevent musty smells
and moisture build up. The easy Breathe provides critical air
exchanges to great and maintain healthy indoor air quality. And
right now, get twenty percent off in two free ministats
(34:36):
with every Easy breath purchase called eight six six eight
two two seventy three twenty eight visit easybreed dot com.
I've used this product because my washer smelled terrible, and
let me tell you it worked great. Hi Gary Sullivan. Here,
Now my water's crystal clear. I've got real peace of
mind with Awesome Watercare. Their products remove all the hidden gunk, biofilm,
(34:57):
bacterium build up from hot tubs, added tubs, swim spots, even.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Washers and dishwashers.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
If you want your water system spotless, check out awesome
dot com spelled ahh somme dot com. You'll see and
smell the difference. Well, it's fall, and that means smart
homeowners are preparing their homes for winter, especially they're plumbing.
Hi the scary solvent for Roto Router plumbing and water cleanup.
I want you to go outside, unscrew your garden hose
(35:25):
and check those outdoor faucets for drips.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
If they're leaking now, they could freeze and burst this winter,
causing expensive water damage and plumbing repairs. The time to
fix dripping hose bibs is right now. Call Rotor Router
at one eight hundred get.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Roto for fast, reliable plumbing service.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
For over forty years, DeMont has made powerful pain coating
removers that are tough on layers but save for you
in the environment. Tried Demand Smart Strip Advanced. It works
on over ninety percent of the coatings. No harmful fumes,
no dangerous chemicals. Not sure what you're removing, Well, Demon's
easy test kit tells you it's exactly what you need.
Find Smart Strip that you're participating do it best retailer
(36:04):
Sherwin Williams. Or visit Dumont Global dot com. A's Dumont
Global dot com Dumont Smart, safe and proven. So do
it yourself with Demon.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
All right, back out and we go. We are talking
about homeowners insurance. Beth Harper is my guest out of
the Cleveland, Ohio area, and Beth, one of the things
I was thinking of after I had our meeting with
our insurance broker is she knew the people that would
inspect houses and she was talking like you, She's just
(36:49):
talking the truth. This is what's gonna happen. I'm not
here to bash insurance companies. They're making a bet. I'm
making a bet in a way. And so you got
to maintain your house. And we just had a couple
of calls today about frozen pipes, and so how's insurance
deal with that? If you have a frozen pipe, and yeah,
(37:11):
I know a lot of times you have a plumber
involved just thawing it, that's not going to be a claim.
What happens if it.
Speaker 7 (37:16):
Burst, well, Number one, mitigate. So whatever it takes to
shut that water off so that it stops all the
collateral damage. Get that taken care of asap. That is
your job as a homeowner, and it is a requirement
by your insurance policy that you will do the best
(37:39):
you can to mitigate damage so it doesn't continue. That
includes some of the big claims like well, yeah, and
I called somebody right away and put a tarp over
my roof where the big hole is and the rain
was coming in perfect. Good job, good job. I like it.
I like it when people do that. So get it mitigated.
Is it exposed? Is it old pipe? Was it a
(38:01):
cast iron pipe? Was there unknown galvanized pipe? So it
depends a lot on that. So when it's frozen, some
of this bad weather, we can't control it. And then
you get into this is a scary part. You get
into an ice storm and electrics out. Then what well,
the first thing you do shut the water off at
(38:23):
the source, open every tap, flush the toilet, get every
drop of water out of your toilet. From experience, also,
the outgoing water is maybe even more important than the
incoming water, just because if you have in if you
have incoming water or no incut coming water, you can
melt snow and you can flush the toilet with a
(38:44):
melted bucket of snow. But if you can't flush, then
what do you do? So drain everything? Be smart about
what has to happen, right so that way, if there
is that also takes the pressure off. So if there's
if it's sunknown ice storm, electric out and it might
be a couple of days or even depending on the cold,
(39:05):
twelve hours, get the water of the pipes. There's no
water in the pipes, there's no expansion. You're not going
to break the pipes.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Right.
Speaker 7 (39:12):
So let's say you didn't know, there's something happened, and
I and again something happened. That is a sudden occurrence,
and that's when you turn in the claim. Now how
it's paid. I'm not a claim sudjuster. I just know
that you can't call it in. There's usually coverage for
that type of thing because it is a sudden occurrence.
It's not something you planned. If they come out and
(39:35):
they notice that all of your pipes, all your incoming
water pipes are exposed to the outside air well, now
that's an issue modern home, so they don't have that issue.
It's usually something has happened and that same type of
thing goes into along your furnace. You have condensation pipes
and same with your water. Here. All that stuff there
(39:57):
is condensate and there's an outflow of it that can freeze. Also,
if you're not paying attention to it, you can have
hidden water damage and with it comes mold and mildew issues.
Check your carrier. Certain carriers allow coverage. You purchase it,
but it's for hidden water damage and it is for
(40:18):
limited mold and mildew settlement settlements. Most mold and mildew
that people put into. Oh my attic is full of
mold and we're all going to die because it's black.
Well maybe it's pink. That you know what we're talking
about because you advertise on the or you talk about
this all the time, and that five minute mold test kit.
You got to know what kind of mold of it.
There's mold everywhere we eat mold. We're eating mushrooms, right,
(40:41):
so find out what it is that kind. Because you
overinsulated your attic, the vent pipe was leaking and the
water trickle in. There's a leak in your roof that
you didn't know about. That's not going to be covered
because that is something that was preventable if you'd have
done your maintenance. Let's go back the same situation. A
(41:04):
tree branch crashed on your roof. You thought you had
it covered, then the electricity went out and it rained again,
and now you have mold growing that came from the
specific incident, and there can be I'm not going to
guarantee it again, I'm not a claims adjuster. There can
be coverage for that because it came from something else.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Sure, you know, Beth, one of the things I mentioned
was ice dams, and in a way, ice stams are
preventable a lot of times just caused by lack of insulation.
And I know there's codes in there to put ice
guards underneath shingles, but some of the older roofs and
older housing maybe doesn't have that, and you're under insulat
(41:47):
and you have an ice dam and then you got
a leak. Is that an incident or is that maintenance?
Speaker 7 (41:54):
I cannot say yes or no. I'm not a claims adjuster.
What I will say is, if you've been with your
carrier for quite some time, it's entirely possible that that
will be covered if you recently changed carriers, because what
happens this is so let's talk about being a broker
real quick here. So when you're with a carrier for
so long, you've been more or less grandfathered in if
(42:17):
they made any changes you will get in your policy.
When it's mailed to you at your renewal time, there'll
be big bold letter saying please read carefully, these are
the following changes. That's on you. It told you to
read this because there's changes to your policy now. A
lot of times because you were with them, it's not
(42:37):
going to apply because they changed, say a quoting platform
that takes into consideration different risks. If I were to
move you, you've been with one carrier for fifteen years.
I move you for a better premium to another carrier,
you are going to be subject to the brand new
risk categories writing underlying underwriting guidelines, and so you could
(43:00):
actually be hurting yourself by moving. Remember, your premium isn't
about how low you can go, It's about how much
will I get paid to put my home back together again.
If there's a.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Claim, Which comes back to the thing is you're broker
is your advocate. You have to have a great relationship
with your breaker broker that when you make that change,
she's already on your side. And she's going to see
what she can do. Beth. As always, we ran out
of time. I certainly appreciate your time. I promise we'll
(43:36):
get you back and what we may do sometime and
the dead of winner is get you on for an
hour and actually take calls.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
So Garry, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Sit tight and we'll try that.
Speaker 7 (43:47):
Take care all right you Carrie.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Have a merry Christmas to you two. Beth. Thanks all right.
Speaker 9 (43:54):
Let me give you the phone number you can join
us like to chat with you if you're keeping up
on the maintenance on your home. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
You're at home with Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (44:22):
Home Improvement one oh one with Gary Sullivan every weekend.
Classes begin at one eight hundred eight two three tah
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
All right, it's the weekend. Thanks for joining me. You're
at home with Garry Sullivan and well, let's get back
to the phone calls. At the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about homeowner's insurance. Beth Harper will
be joining us, and a lot of information on roofs
and changing insurance and working with a broker and flood
(00:51):
damage of the house. I just love to chat with
her and she shines a light on a lot of things.
We just went through examining our home owners insurance extensively,
and you got to make some decisions. I mean, it's
kind of like going to the casino. You're making a
bed on this probably ain't gonna happen. Or may you
(01:12):
increase your deductible? I think you'll find it interesting And
that'll be at the bottom of the hour. In the meantime,
we got Bob Bob welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Hey Gary, this is Bob.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
How are you doing fine? Thank you? Hey.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I have a kind of an advice question. I have
an older home and they put in an addition, a
dining room edition on the house, and obviously they did
a hip roof style addition which created up in the attic.
You know this kind of void area where they went
over the existing deck and I naturally got some valleys
(01:50):
on the backside of that hip roof, and it's created
some ice damning issues in the past, and I'm just
kind of curious, is anything that I can do from
an installation standpoint inside that area, whether it be a
rigid board, foam or actually put insulation down or any
(02:11):
thoughts there.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, yeah, I will tell you. It's a hard question
to answer over the phone without seeing it. I mean,
I know your problem. Hip roofs are notorious problems for
getting them fully insulated. Do you have a hip wall
up there, kind of like a half wall? It does?
It is not?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It literally just like a frames right into the existing roof.
And in fact, they even left the shingles on there
from the old home. And about five years ago I
had a new roof put on. I had them pull
those shingles off, so I got exposed one by six
decking up there that that's kind of in that space.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, So so what part are you thinking of insulaying?
Since I can't really see it, are you thinking about
insulating the underside of the roof?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
For well, that's where that's where my question is would
I be better doing that if I'm gonna do something,
or would I do the decking of it.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, well, if you can get to the decking and
you're bringing are you do you you have ventilation in
that area, correct or no?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, we have ventilation and obviously other installation throughout the
rest of that.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So if you can get and keep that ventilation, because
that comes, that becomes important. Also you could do if
you can keep the ventilation and do the floor and
maybe the side to create some warmth, that may be
(03:44):
enough to solve the problem. Okay, if you looked at
what they call whole house encapsulation, then you would be
eliminating the ventilation, which is different than we're are used
to doing, and you would be encapsulating the sides and
(04:05):
the underpart of the roofing. So you allow that to
become a little bit of a conditioned space. Okay, you're
not putting a furnace up there or anything like that,
but you're gonna have heat radiating from the house, and
you're gonna buffer that heat so it doesn't melt the
snow too fast and the roof and then in the summertime,
(04:26):
when you're running the air conditioning. Some of that will
seep up there and it'll help with the radiant energy
coming through the roof. You see where I'm going, You're
kind of creating a semi conditioned area, And it really
depends which way you want to go. And what may
(04:46):
make that decision is if the conventional way with ventilation
and insulation will give you this enough protection to keep
that from happening.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, yep, it's interesting. I saw a video on that
encapsulation on YouTube this morning. I was watching it and
it was kind of intriguing how they how they do
that right?
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Right, and and that you know, again, if you can't,
you might even have you know, an insulation company come
in and and I'm not saying they got to do
the job, get a bid on it in terms of
you know, what they how they would attack it. Would
they continue to use the batting, would they use foam panels,
or would they do whole house encapsulation. And you know,
(05:32):
since they're the specialists and they got boots on the ground,
you might be able to ferret some information from them.
But I think that's the two choices you're up against.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, understood. Yeah, this original house, it was very bad
when we first bought it with the soft events. In fact,
they didn't have enough of soffit to send out, so
it wasn't getting a lot of ventilation. So what we
did was we cut some soft it's like up off
the edge of the roof onto the decking itself to
get me some of that flow.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Right, So okay, yeah, yeah, I'm only laughing because I
grew up in a house with a hip roof and
it was you know, every bit of fifteen hundred square feet.
When mom and dad had kids, that became our bedroom. Yeah, yeah,
got a little hot in the summertime.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I bet I bet, well, Gary, I really appreciate and
thanks for some support there.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You're quite welcome. Thanks for the call. Appreciate it. Take care. Yeah.
They're very common actually, and back in that day a
lot of houses weren't air conditioned and that's the way
those hip proofs were. They're tough to insulate, and there's
still a challenge and it really depends on the lay
of the land, you know, what you can do to
create you know, it's all about ventilation and insulation unless
(06:52):
you do a whole house encapsulation and that's kind of
a different ballgame. But might be the ballgame you want
to be in, right, It just depends what you can
and can't do. It sounds like he might be able
to still get enough insulation or he has the ventilation,
so he's set there. But they're all kind of designed
(07:13):
a little bit differently, and you might have different options,
and that would certainly be one of them. It kind
of pulls into the whole discussion also of checking what
you have. And I don't care if you have a
house that's ten years old or one hundred years old,
(07:36):
what kind of insulation do you have? And do you know?
It's amazing. I have said it many times. Owning a
home is probably the biggest investment ninety percent of us make.
That's the biggest investment we'll make, and so many of
us don't really know what we have, such as you know,
(08:00):
if you have a house that's prior to nineteen seventy five,
unless you or a previous owner have added insulation in
the walls, there is none. There's none. And you know,
as you talk to your friends and they have maybe
a newer home, and maybe their newer home is bigger
than your home, and you start talking energy bills, you'll
(08:24):
see that this is a problem. I mean, this is
a problem, and it can be rectified. You can have
folks come in and drill holes from the outside and
pump a foam into those walls. It may not make
current standards, but what it will do is it'll eliminate
(08:47):
drafts and be helpful. Hey, Mike, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Hello Gary, Yes, sir, thank you for taking my call.
I really enjoy your show and I can't wait to
be able to get to it every weekend, So thank
you for having it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You're quite welcome.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I just there. You had a caller earlier that was
wondering about pressure from his from to the addition of
like fifty feet long, and I just wanted to pass
on just a little tid that. Now, I'm not a
licensed plumber, but I've been doing plumbing for like twenty
seven twenty eight years or so, and so what I
would pass on to him is, in order to try
(09:25):
to keep that pressure, you're going to have to try
to find a three quarter line someplace down there and
tap off of that and run three quarter all the
way down to where you want to go up and
through your floor reduced to half inch and then three
eighths Because if you try to run half inch all
the way down there, you're you're gonna have nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, I think I missed. I did misspeak on that,
and your you're correct. And then also the other thing
which really didn't talk about is really trying to find
everything that's on that line.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Correct, correctly correct.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I was taught that by an old guy. Say, you know,
you ever seen those movies where or documentaries where they're
trying to get diamonds off the side of a mountain
and they'll run twenty four to thirty inch pike from
the ocean all the way to where they're trying to go.
By the time they get to the ocean, they've reduced
that thing so many times that they have what's what's
(10:20):
the equivalent of like a garden hose, and that thing
is blasting the side of the mountain. Now, so the
same principle applied to puban. You want to try to
keep the volume up as far as you can.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Very good, Well, thank you much for that. I appreciate it. Mike.
Very good. Let's take a break. We'll come back if
you'd like to join us. Do so.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
It's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
If you don't have a list of things to do
around the house, Gary will find something for you. At
one eight hundred and eighty two three tak you're at
home with Gary Sullivantor.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
I've used this product because my washer smelled terrible and
let me tell you it worked great. Hi, Gary Sullivan. Here,
Now my water's crystal clear. I've got real peace of
mind with Awesome Watercare. Their products remove all the hidden gunk, biofilm,
bacterium build up from hot tubs, jetted tubs, swim spots,
even washers and dishwashers. If you want your water system spotless,
(11:35):
check out Awesome dot com spelled ahh som me dot com.
You'll see and smell the difference. Soon, we're going to
be spending more time inside our home where the air
is five times worse than the outdoor air. Get that stagnant,
stuffy air out with an easy breathe and reduce airborne
particles by eighty five percent. Don't get trapped inside a
(11:57):
sick house breathing dirty, musty damp this winter right now,
Get two yumnistats with every easy Breathe purchase. Give m
a call at eight, sixty six, eight two, two, seventy three,
twenty eight or visit Easybreed dot com. For over forty years,
Dumont has made powerful pain and coating removers that are
tough on layers but save for you in the environment.
(12:18):
Try demand smart Strip Advanced. It works on over ninety
percent of the coatings. No harmful fumes, no dangerous chemicals.
Not sure what you're removing well, Demon's easy test kid
tells you exactly what you need. Find smart Strip at
you're participating Do it Best retailer Sherwin Williams or visit
Dumont Global dot com. That's Dumont Global dot com. Dumont Smart,
(12:39):
safe and proven, so do it yourself with Demon. Hey,
it's Gary Salivan for Roto Ruter plumbing and water cleanup
a company that has been trusted and recommended for generations
Coast to coast.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Roto Ruter fixes clogged.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Drains, leaky faucets, and running toilets. They repair and replace
water heaters, garbage disposals, some pumps, water softeners, and other
residential a commercial plumbing fixture.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I use routor Ruter at my house.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
And you should leave plumbing to the pros too, Call
one eight hundred, get rutto or go to rotrouter dot
com today.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Hey, we're talking a little home improvement. Thanks for joining me.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan. By the way, our
phone number if you'd like to jump on board, you can,
it's eight hundred eight two three eight two five five.
It just wouldn't be a good winter day if we
didn't talk about the humidity level in your home. You know,
humidity in your home crashes when it's cold outside. And
(13:42):
if you're wondering right now what your humidity should be
in your home, and let's say it's thirty degrees outside,
your humidity level should be around thirty five percent. And
if it's going down to zero, well that humidity should
probably be around Yeah, it's not gonna be as comfortable,
(14:03):
but you get any higher than that, you'll create condensation
on windows, maybe even tile surfaces. That's where condensation is
going to take place, hard slick surfaces, so you know
it's it's dry, and you also don't want to work
(14:25):
really hard at adding too much humidity. And the prime
culprit is when you're cooking or you're showering, and let's
say it's you know, really cold outside and your community
should be you know, say thirty five percent or less,
(14:46):
and you don't have that fan on, or you don't
have a fan in the bathroom, or you turn off
that fan after the shower's over and you're cooking without
a fan. That moisture that you're adding can make your
home comfortable. I mean, if you're running a humidity level
of twenty percent, you know, go ahead and enjoy that
extra moisture. Maybe it'll bump it up to thirty thirty
(15:07):
five percent. But as it dries out outside and your
home umidity still sitting around thirty five percent, you start
using a bathroom fan, or you're gonna have water rolling
down your windows or maybe rotting out the window sill,
bouncing that humidity, and we talk about it a lot
(15:28):
is really a key to a healthy home, quite honestly,
because too much moisture. Remember water is your number one enemy,
and if it starts doing damage to plaster walls underneath
a marble window sill or rotting a wood windowsill, um
(15:48):
that can get become expensive repairs or even mold. So
always pay attention to your humidity levels inside your home
regards wardless of where you're at in the seasons. Very important.
All right, let's go to Mike. Mike, welcome, Hi Gary.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
I'm sorry it turned on the phone, turned on the radio.
It's quick. My goodness, Hey, thanks for taking my call here.
I listened to you every Saturday and Sunday sometimes.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I heard you talking about this morning about frozen faucets,
outdoor faucets. For years, I've been so good about it,
unhooking the hose and h but this year the cold
came on so fast after Cleveland. Yeah, my outdoor water spicket,
I if in my garage, if the pipe comes in
(16:49):
through the length of my garage out to the spicket,
of course, and and all of a sudden I heard
a little water running, So the water was turned off.
The water started coming out of the spicot, and the
handle is frozen solid. I cannot turn it. I tried
to put a space heater on it the other day
(17:10):
when we had a little bit of a warm up.
But my question is, do you think it's the pipe
that goes through the wall that may be crap, but
or you think it could be the stem that's frozen causing.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You know what I was going to ask you the
same thing. I was going to ask you the exact
same thing. Do you think it's just jammed or you know,
you know nice ice doesn't have anything to do with it,
And you need a little pebe blaster to let that
sit there and marinate for a couple hours and see
if it turns or is it ice? If you had
a space heater on it, it could be that it
(17:46):
just needs a little you know, penetrating oil on there.
So there's no way real way of knowing unless we
open up that wall, to be honest with you, because
that's where the pipe is. Was the hose attached to it?
Speaker 4 (18:06):
No, it wasn't. I was not attached. But I, like
I said, the cold came on so fast I didn't
turn off the water in the garage. So I think
obviously with some water sitting in the stem in that.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Pipe, does that garage get that cold?
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Sometimes it does. One year that that extended pipe in
there did freeze, and I always try to blow it
out from the outside, of course, But.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Is it a frost proof or is it just a
regular piece of copper line that comes right into It's
like a boiler faucet or something like that.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
I'm sure it's not a frost.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Proof that okay, and so yeah, see, so I don't
know if that water is frozen. But did you say
you got some water out of it at one time?
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Though?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, I mean when it and I heard the water running,
the water was coming out of them, out of the
poker out.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, okay. So if it's coming out of the fun
and you can't get to that pipe, so that's the
only issue. I think what I would do, quite honestly,
I'd get some PV blaster. I'd worked out around that
stem and see if we can open it up. If
if that's not the case, you're probably gonna have to
shut off the water on the inside, use the bleeder
(19:26):
cup and go from there.
Speaker 6 (19:33):
Time to get your hands dirty with Gary Cellivan give
them a call at one eight eight two three talk
you're at home with Gary cellibrator.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
So what can make your winner easier to deal with
the answer or is blaster's industrial strengths silicon lubricn It's
perfect for snowshovels, snowblowers, and it'll keep snow from sticking
and clogging. You can use it on car doors window
gaskets to keep them from sticking and hey, s let's
go super fast too. It reduces friction while preventing rust.
Enjoy this winter and grab a can of Blaster Industrial
(20:19):
Strings Silicon lubricn at a home out of our hardware
store near you and always use Blaster products and work
it like a pro. Hey, Gary Solvent here.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Otor Exits Eliminator. It's been receiving rave reviews for years
and there's a simple reason for that. It works. Comments
like I've tried everything to get the dog urine smell
out of my carpet and sofa, but then one application
of oter Exit Eliminator and the smell was eliminated. Thank
you otor Exit. Hey, don't be unprepared for life smelly accidents.
(20:48):
Be prepared with Odor Exits Eliminator eliminate odors when they occur.
Come to otor exit dot com for the best pricing,
combos and service. Hey, Gary Solvent Here. I love products
that really work, and Jaws that just add water system
is one of my favorites.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
Just in time for the holidays, the Jaws Holiday Caddiepack
is back loaded with four gray cleaners, the glass Cleaner.
I love that kitchen, bathroom disinfecting cleaners, even a foaming
dispray perfect for your home or is a great gift
for someone Right now, you get twenty percent off in
free shipping when you use my promo code Gary at
jawscleans dot com. That's Jaws cleans dot com. Make your
(21:26):
holiday shine with Jaws. Garysalvent here for the Zalar Pump Company.
Zalor leads the way in sump pumps and battery backup
systems with continuous innovation. Now you can see the light
with their led plug illuminating Zalor green when the power
is present. You no longer have to wonder if your
sump pump hass power. The plug is always illuminated when
(21:46):
power is present. Check it out today on the popular
Zolar model sixty three and M fifty three. Go to
zalarpumps dot com the located factory certified installer in your
area zalarpumps dot com.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
All right, back at it we go. Before we get
to Beth Harper or I just want to kind of
reiterate a little something with that frozen pipe because we
got short changed on time. If the obviously if it's
an outdoor faucet, it's inside the garage and it just
trickled water and then it stopped, and he was wondering
(22:32):
whether it's the faucet that was frozen or jammed with
the stem, or whether the pipe had ice in it.
He said he put a space heater near that, and
if it were the faucet at that point and the
valve was opened, it probably would have started dripping. My
guess is it is the pipe that is frozen, and
(22:55):
the only way you're really going to take care of
that is introduced heat. Now that pipe's inside the wall.
Hopefully there's just shut off valve on knee where you
could shut off the waterline or the water going to
that particular faucet. But then somehow you're going to have
to introduce heat inside a wall, even if just a
(23:17):
little bit of an opening cut above that faucet and
a hair dryer put in there where you would kind
of warm that up. So I did want to just
make sure we finished answer and that. So Beth Harper's
with us, and she is an insurance broker, and speaking
of frozen pipes, that might be a claim down the road. Beth, welcome,
(23:37):
how are you.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
I'm wonderful, Gary, I hear you're doing awfully well as well.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I'm trying, trying my best, trying my best. It was funny.
I wrote you a couple of days ago and said, hey,
you want to jump on. I've been reading different things
about roofing and new hail requirements, and I know last
time we talked about you said insurance coverage on roof's
is really changing. So I just kind of wanted to
(24:05):
tap in and what are you hear and what are
you seeing when it comes to roofing claims and what
can people expect and should they be asking questions, et cetera.
Speaker 7 (24:18):
They should always ask questions. And what I'd like to
say is if every one of your listeners, I don't
expect any of them to ever have issues with insurance
claims because what you do is what a home owner
needs to do to protect their most important and expensive asset.
Just walk around, look around. If you're in the spring, summer, fall,
and you look around the outside of your house and
(24:40):
it looks like somebody is dribbling kitty litter around it, Garry,
you know it's not kitty litter.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Is it.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
It's all the asphalt shingles coming off, right, all that
grit right. That is your first sign as a homeowner
that not as well. Nothing as well with your roof.
You need to get a professional up there and check
it out. I always reckon men, always before all my clients.
When they call me with a claim, I say, did
you have an estimate? What did they say? Is the problem?
(25:10):
That is very crucial. I'll quick stories, real quick stories.
Contractors now know that there is a limited loss settlement
on the majority of the carryokers out there, meaning for
traditional asphalt roof at ten years, it's now actual cash value,
which is depreciation unless you're deductible, and you also lose
your cosmetic matching coverage. That endorsement will be removed from
(25:34):
your policy at that time. Now, since contractors know that
they want to help you get a new roof, the
problem with that is they don't know your policy. And
back in September I had two back to back claims
and both of them were done by a contractor that
(25:55):
gave an exact date of damage. Okay, that may be correct.
I will tell you right now, your claims adjuster knows
your policy inside it out, and they have access to
more weather information than a contractor ever will. One of
the things that happened and the claim was denied is
because it was outside of a year, So this claim
(26:18):
supposedly happened. I'm going to make dates up just protect
in case they're listening. Say the claim happened May fifth
of twenty twenty four. The policy year is, let's just
say August to August, and you put a claim in
for May in twenty twenty or I'm sorry, in July
(26:38):
of twenty twenty five. You're outside the year. There is
no coverage. And so that actually happened because that's when
the contractor picked a date. I talked to this person
in depth and there said, well, yeah, my roof is bad,
there's lots of damage up there. I need it replaced.
Why won't my insurance company replace it? Very sad. So
(27:00):
the idea here is, if you have a contractor telling
you you have damage, don't let them. Don't make up
a date. Nobody unless you went out immediately after a
storm or something happened immediately after a storm and you
know it, you don't know. You really don't know your claim.
Suggest will find out for you. So get that estimate.
(27:22):
Make sure it's somebody that isn't trying to help you.
If a contractor ever wants to see your homeowners policy,
do not give it to them. They're looking for ins
and outs. Besides containing a whole bunch of personal data,
they're looking for loopholes to get your claim covered. Well,
(27:44):
you know what, that's kind of my job. Don't let
somebody out there promise you a new roof, because once
you submit that claim, it's on the record. A homeowner's
claim stays for five years on your policy, unlike an
auto which is a round three unless it's a major violation.
That means for five years that has to replace. Now,
(28:06):
if the claim's denied, well there's damage. Now they're going
to want to know what did you do about that?
How did you mitigate that damage? And you have to
submit proof that you actually took care of it on
your dime because the claim was denied and you can
be non renewed. Now you're going to say, well, I'll
just go find another I'll find another carrier. Yeah, that's
(28:27):
my job too. You call in and say, hey, I'm
mad at my insurance carrier. They didn't pay correctly on
this claim and I want out. I'm like, okay, when
was a claim? It was last year. Well, guess what
if it's a claim that ended up being over forty
thousand dollars. That's well over a limit of one of
the ones that a carrier. If I talk to the
(28:48):
underwriter and go, hey, this is what's going on, they're
going to say that damage is forty thousand dollars. We
will not write that risk. So you end up hurting
yourself because you didn't do enough homework and talk enough
to your agent, and that impacts how you protect your
home and work.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I got to tell you, bet that a broker in
insurance is a vital connection to problems that everybody is
eventually going to have because you can talk to them
just like you're talking to us. And it was about gosh,
I think the end of the summer. Our insurance was
(29:32):
coming up from renewal, and because I had talked to you,
I suggested my wife that we need to really do
a deep dive in our insurance. And we had not
been having We had a broker that we liked and
then he sold the business and the new person we
had no relationship with it. It was just picked up
and you know, that was it. So we looked at
(29:57):
the insurance and then we got some referrals on different
brokers and my wife went and talked to him, and
she goes, we're gonna, we're gonna deal with this, lady,
and you need to come with us, and we need
to go through this whole policy and best. She spent
three hours.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
With us, and that's my normal.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
I learned so much. And in a way, I jokingly said, well,
it's like going to the casino. We're placing bets. Yes,
you know, yeah, I think earthquake. I'm gonna I'm gonna.
I'm gonna. You know, I'm not gonna do that. I'm
gonna do this. And why don't we raise this, uh,
(30:40):
you know, deductible we can you know, cover a little incident,
you know. And it was I forget where it was,
but I think we moved it up to like twenty
five hundred or may it was even a little bit more.
And you're right, you just don't want you don't want
to be worrying that insurance is not there to cover everything.
(31:01):
It's there to take the big hit. Correct.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Absolutely, it is not for maintenance. Ye back in the
old days, I'm going to say the old days were
twenty years ago. It was used a lot for maintenance,
I agree, But then we had for the past five
well for past six years. So when we started having
all those big storms that came through starting in twenty
two that affected my area real heavy, and then every
(31:29):
year there was another big storm since then. Since a
lot of that stuff they had to replace, they go
up on the roof and it's like, well, yeah, this
roof gave away. It's a maintenance issue. Everything's writted up.
You can see where the shingles are curling. They're like,
why am I replacing a roof that has real maintenance
damage from this storm versus replacing a roof that doesn't
(31:54):
have any maintenance damage. So that's changed a lot, and
quite honestly, I agree with that. People will argue with
me on that, and I'll say, okay, if you never
put oil in your car and your enginecies is up,
do you file a claim on that? Well, no, Well
it's a maintenance issue. If you, as you always talk,
(32:15):
get up there. If you don't want to get on
a ladder, call somebody to get up there. Your neighbor
has a drone, get the drone up there and take pictures.
Look at your own roof. You have to have accountability
for it. Insurance is year two year. It is not
a lifetime. Now that being said, there's loyalty built up
as well, and that loyalty isn't built up and you
(32:38):
deserve a new roof, it's built up and well. At
your renewal because you haven't had any claims, we're going
to increase your claims free discount. That's where the loyalty
comes in. But it's year to year, and which makes sense.
When you're driving, when you start out at sixteen, same thing,
it's year to year. As you continue to drive, you
(32:59):
get more. The risk drops, your insurance drops. Same thing.
You maintain your home, your wrist drops because you're maintaining it.
One of the questions you had asked about was the oh,
Gary had just lost my mind. I'm not looking at
your email.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That's all right, because I've got a couple other questions
I want to ask, and one of them with the
cold weather, we talk about ice dams, we talk about
frozen pipes, and let me take a break, Beth, and
we'll come back and address that because that is also maintenance.
I'm just curious how that works out. We'll continue. Beth Harper.
She is a insurance broker out of the Cleveland, Ohio area,
(33:39):
and she's been kind enough to give us a half
hour and chat a little bit about homeowner's insurance will continue.
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
Helme for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
This is at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
So your basement is dry sealed and maybe even have
some pumps, but yet the musty odor still lingers. You
need to ventilate below grade spaces. All basements and crawl
spaces need air exchanges in order to prevent musty smells
and moisture build up. The easy Breathe provides critical air
exchanges to great and maintain healthy indoor air quality. And
right now, get twenty percent off in two free ministats
(34:36):
with every Easy breath purchase called eight six six eight
two two seventy three twenty eight visit easybreed dot com.
I've used this product because my washer smelled terrible, and
let me tell you it worked great. Hi Gary Sullivan. Here,
Now my water's crystal clear. I've got real peace of
mind with Awesome Watercare. Their products remove all the hidden gunk, biofilm,
(34:57):
bacterium build up from hot tubs, added tubs, swim spots, even.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Washers and dishwashers.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
If you want your water system spotless, check out awesome
dot com spelled ahh somme dot com. You'll see and
smell the difference. Well, it's fall, and that means smart
homeowners are preparing their homes for winter, especially they're plumbing.
Hi the scary solvent for Roto Router plumbing and water cleanup.
I want you to go outside, unscrew your garden hose
(35:25):
and check those outdoor faucets for drips.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
If they're leaking now, they could freeze and burst this winter,
causing expensive water damage and plumbing repairs. The time to
fix dripping hose bibs is right now. Call Rotor Router
at one eight hundred get.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Roto for fast, reliable plumbing service.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
For over forty years, DeMont has made powerful pain coating
removers that are tough on layers but save for you
in the environment. Tried Demand Smart Strip Advanced. It works
on over ninety percent of the coatings. No harmful fumes,
no dangerous chemicals. Not sure what you're removing, Well, Demon's
easy test kit tells you it's exactly what you need.
Find Smart Strip that you're participating do it best retailer
(36:04):
Sherwin Williams. Or visit Dumont Global dot com. A's Dumont
Global dot com Dumont Smart, safe and proven. So do
it yourself with Demon.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
All right, back out and we go. We are talking
about homeowners insurance. Beth Harper is my guest out of
the Cleveland, Ohio area, and Beth, one of the things
I was thinking of after I had our meeting with
our insurance broker is she knew the people that would
inspect houses and she was talking like you, She's just
(36:49):
talking the truth. This is what's gonna happen. I'm not
here to bash insurance companies. They're making a bet. I'm
making a bet in a way. And so you got
to maintain your house. And we just had a couple
of calls today about frozen pipes, and so how's insurance
deal with that? If you have a frozen pipe, and yeah,
(37:11):
I know a lot of times you have a plumber
involved just thawing it, that's not going to be a claim.
What happens if it.
Speaker 7 (37:16):
Burst, well, Number one, mitigate. So whatever it takes to
shut that water off so that it stops all the
collateral damage. Get that taken care of asap. That is
your job as a homeowner, and it is a requirement
by your insurance policy that you will do the best
(37:39):
you can to mitigate damage so it doesn't continue. That
includes some of the big claims like well, yeah, and
I called somebody right away and put a tarp over
my roof where the big hole is and the rain
was coming in perfect. Good job, good job. I like it.
I like it when people do that. So get it mitigated.
Is it exposed? Is it old pipe? Was it a
(38:01):
cast iron pipe? Was there unknown galvanized pipe? So it
depends a lot on that. So when it's frozen, some
of this bad weather, we can't control it. And then
you get into this is a scary part. You get
into an ice storm and electrics out. Then what well,
the first thing you do shut the water off at
(38:23):
the source, open every tap, flush the toilet, get every
drop of water out of your toilet. From experience, also,
the outgoing water is maybe even more important than the
incoming water, just because if you have in if you
have incoming water or no incut coming water, you can
melt snow and you can flush the toilet with a
(38:44):
melted bucket of snow. But if you can't flush, then
what do you do? So drain everything? Be smart about
what has to happen, right so that way, if there
is that also takes the pressure off. So if there's
if it's sunknown ice storm, electric out and it might
be a couple of days or even depending on the cold,
(39:05):
twelve hours, get the water of the pipes. There's no
water in the pipes, there's no expansion. You're not going
to break the pipes.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Right.
Speaker 7 (39:12):
So let's say you didn't know, there's something happened, and
I and again something happened. That is a sudden occurrence,
and that's when you turn in the claim. Now how
it's paid. I'm not a claim sudjuster. I just know
that you can't call it in. There's usually coverage for
that type of thing because it is a sudden occurrence.
It's not something you planned. If they come out and
(39:35):
they notice that all of your pipes, all your incoming
water pipes are exposed to the outside air well, now
that's an issue modern home, so they don't have that issue.
It's usually something has happened and that same type of
thing goes into along your furnace. You have condensation pipes
and same with your water. Here. All that stuff there
(39:57):
is condensate and there's an outflow of it that can freeze. Also,
if you're not paying attention to it, you can have
hidden water damage and with it comes mold and mildew issues.
Check your carrier. Certain carriers allow coverage. You purchase it,
but it's for hidden water damage and it is for
(40:18):
limited mold and mildew settlement settlements. Most mold and mildew
that people put into. Oh my attic is full of
mold and we're all going to die because it's black.
Well maybe it's pink. That you know what we're talking
about because you advertise on the or you talk about
this all the time, and that five minute mold test kit.
You got to know what kind of mold of it.
There's mold everywhere we eat mold. We're eating mushrooms, right,
(40:41):
so find out what it is that kind. Because you
overinsulated your attic, the vent pipe was leaking and the
water trickle in. There's a leak in your roof that
you didn't know about. That's not going to be covered
because that is something that was preventable if you'd have
done your maintenance. Let's go back the same situation. A
(41:04):
tree branch crashed on your roof. You thought you had
it covered, then the electricity went out and it rained again,
and now you have mold growing that came from the
specific incident, and there can be I'm not going to
guarantee it again, I'm not a claims adjuster. There can
be coverage for that because it came from something else.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Sure, you know, Beth, one of the things I mentioned
was ice dams, and in a way, ice stams are
preventable a lot of times just caused by lack of insulation.
And I know there's codes in there to put ice
guards underneath shingles, but some of the older roofs and
older housing maybe doesn't have that, and you're under insulat
(41:47):
and you have an ice dam and then you got
a leak. Is that an incident or is that maintenance?
Speaker 7 (41:54):
I cannot say yes or no. I'm not a claims adjuster.
What I will say is, if you've been with your
carrier for quite some time, it's entirely possible that that
will be covered if you recently changed carriers, because what
happens this is so let's talk about being a broker
real quick here. So when you're with a carrier for
so long, you've been more or less grandfathered in if
(42:17):
they made any changes you will get in your policy.
When it's mailed to you at your renewal time, there'll
be big bold letter saying please read carefully, these are
the following changes. That's on you. It told you to
read this because there's changes to your policy now. A
lot of times because you were with them, it's not
(42:37):
going to apply because they changed, say a quoting platform
that takes into consideration different risks. If I were to
move you, you've been with one carrier for fifteen years.
I move you for a better premium to another carrier,
you are going to be subject to the brand new
risk categories writing underlying underwriting guidelines, and so you could
(43:00):
actually be hurting yourself by moving. Remember, your premium isn't
about how low you can go, It's about how much
will I get paid to put my home back together again.
If there's a.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
Claim, Which comes back to the thing is you're broker
is your advocate. You have to have a great relationship
with your breaker broker that when you make that change,
she's already on your side. And she's going to see
what she can do. Beth. As always, we ran out
of time. I certainly appreciate your time. I promise we'll
(43:36):
get you back and what we may do sometime and
the dead of winner is get you on for an
hour and actually take calls.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
So Garry, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Sit tight and we'll try that.
Speaker 7 (43:47):
Take care all right you Carrie.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Have a merry Christmas to you two. Beth. Thanks all right.
Speaker 9 (43:54):
Let me give you the phone number you can join
us like to chat with you if you're keeping up
on the maintenance on your home. It's eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
You're at home with Garry Sullivan.
Speaker 6 (44:22):
Home Improvement one oh one with Gary Sullivan every weekend.
Classes begin at one eight hundred eight two three tah
You're at home with Gary Sullivan.
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.