December 13, 2025 • 22 mins
Gary is joined by Beth Harper, an insurance broker from the Cleveland, Ohio area. They dive into the world of homeowner's insurance, discussing the importance of maintenance and prevention when it comes to costly claims. Beth shares her expertise on how to navigate insurance policies and the potential pitfalls of working with contractors. They also touch on the impact of weather-related issues, such as frozen pipes and ice dams, and how to mitigate damage. With Beth's guidance, homeowners can better understand their insurance coverage and take proactive steps to protect their homes.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
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
(00:22):
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
(00:45):
the only way you're really going to take care of
that problem is introduce 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 it. Well, even if just a
(01:07):
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,
(01:27):
how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm wonderful, Gary. I hear you're doing awfully well as well.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
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 roofs
is really changing. So I just kind of wanted to
(01:55):
tap in and what are you hearing? What are you
seeing when it comes to roofing claims and what can
people expect and should they be asking questions, etc.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
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
(02:30):
and it looks like somebody is dribbling kitty litter around it. Garry,
you know it's not kitty litter.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh, it's all the asphalt shingles coming off all that grit.
That is your first sign is a homeowner that not
as well. Nothing is well with your roof. You need
to get a professional up there and check it out.
I always recommend 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? That
(03:00):
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 carry lookers 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
(03:24):
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
(03:45):
gave an exact date of damage. Okay, that may be correct,
but I will tell you right now your claim sudjuster
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
(04:08):
claim 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
(04:28):
July 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.
(04:50):
So 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 and meet
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
(05:10):
get that estimate. 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
(05:33):
claim covered. Well, 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 around three. Unless it's a
major violation. That means for five years. That has to replace. Now,
(05:56):
if the claim's denied, well there's damage, 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 my job too.
(06:19):
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 underwriter and go, hey,
(06:40):
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. Can that
impacts how you protect your home?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And so that takes us work.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
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 our insurance
(07:22):
was 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
(07:46):
looked at 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. We
need to go through this whole policy and.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Best.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
She spent three hours.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
With us, and that's my normal.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I learned so much and in a way, I 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,
(08:30):
you know deductible? We 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. It's there to take the big hit. Correct.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Absolutely, it is not for maintenance. Yeah, 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,
(09:16):
got affected my area real heavy, and then every 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 way. It's a maintenance is you Everything's rotted up.
You can see where the shingles are curling. They're like,
why am I replacing a roof that has real maintenance
(09:39):
damage from this storm versus replacing a roof that doesn't
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 engine seizes up,
do you file a claimant? Well, no, Well it's a
(10:01):
maintenance issue. If you, as you always talk, 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.
(10:22):
Now that being said, there's loyalty built up as well,
and that loyalty isn't built up and you 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
(10:43):
you're driving, when you start out at sixteen, same thing,
it's year to year. As you continue to drive, you
get more experienced, the risk drops, your insurance drops. Same thing.
You maintain your home, your risk drops because you're maintaining it.
One of the questions you had asked about was the oh, Gary,
(11:03):
I just lost my mind. I'm not looking at your email.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
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,
(11:29):
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 3 (11:39):
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We are talking about homeowner's 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
(14:16):
our meeting with our insurance broker is she knew the
people that would inspect houses, and she was talking like you,
She's just talking the truth. This is what's going to 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've
got to maintain your house. And we just had a
(14:38):
couple of calls today about frozen pipes and so how's
insurance deal with that. If you have a frozen pipe,
and yeah, I know a lot of times joy have
a plumber involved just thawing it, that's not going to
be a claim. What happens if.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
It burst, Well, Number one, mitigate, So whatever it takes
to shut out 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
(15:15):
best you can to mitigate damage so it doesn't continue.
That includes some of the big claims like were oh 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
liked it. I like it when people do that. So
get it mitigated. Is it exposed, is it old pipe,
(15:37):
was it a 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 the scary part. You
get into an ice storm and electrics out. Then what well,
(15:58):
the first thing you do shut the water off at
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
(16:19):
melt snow and you can flush the toilet with a
melted bucket of snow. But if you can't flush, then
what do you do? So 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 unknown ice storm, electric out and it
might be a couple of days or even depending on
(16:41):
the cold, twelve hours. Get the water on the pipes.
If it's there's no water in the pipes, there's no expansion.
You're not going to break the pipe.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
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 amount of claim, 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 they notice
(17:12):
that all of your pipes, all your incoming water pipes
are exposed to the outside air well. Now that's an
issue modern homes, 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.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Here.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
All that stuff there 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 limited mold and
(17:56):
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,
but 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 hit, you got to
know what kind of mold of it. There's mold everywhere.
We eat mold. We're we're eating mushrooms, right, so find
(18:18):
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 tree branch crashed on
(18:41):
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 some else.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
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 insulate
(19:24):
and you have an ice dam and then you got
a leak. Is that an incident or is that maintenance.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I cannot say yes or no. I'm not a claims
adjust 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. Yeah, 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.
(19:53):
If 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
(20:13):
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 underlining, underwriting guidelines, and so you could
(20:37):
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 claim.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Is your broker is your advocate. You have to have
a great relationship with your broker that you make that change.
She's already on your side and she's going to see
what she can do.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Beth.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
As always, we ran out of time. I certainly appreciate
your time. I promise we'll 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 (21:19):
So Garry, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Sit tight and we'll try that care all right, Thank you, Carrie.
Have a merry Christmas, do you too, Beth? Thanks all right.
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. You're at home with
Carrie Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Home Improvement on with Gary Sullivan every weekend. Classes begin
at one eight hundred and eighty two three Top. You're
at home with Gary Sullivan
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
(00:22):
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
(00:45):
the only way you're really going to take care of
that problem is introduce 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 it. Well, even if just a
(01:07):
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,
(01:27):
how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm wonderful, Gary. I hear you're doing awfully well as well.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
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 roofs
is really changing. So I just kind of wanted to
(01:55):
tap in and what are you hearing? What are you
seeing when it comes to roofing claims and what can
people expect and should they be asking questions, etc.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
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
(02:30):
and it looks like somebody is dribbling kitty litter around it. Garry,
you know it's not kitty litter.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh, it's all the asphalt shingles coming off all that grit.
That is your first sign is a homeowner that not
as well. Nothing is well with your roof. You need
to get a professional up there and check it out.
I always recommend 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? That
(03:00):
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 carry lookers 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
(03:24):
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
(03:45):
gave an exact date of damage. Okay, that may be correct,
but I will tell you right now your claim sudjuster
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
(04:08):
claim 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
(04:28):
July 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.
(04:50):
So 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 and meet
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
(05:10):
get that estimate. 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
(05:33):
claim covered. Well, 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 around three. Unless it's a
major violation. That means for five years. That has to replace. Now,
(05:56):
if the claim's denied, well there's damage, 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 my job too.
(06:19):
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 underwriter and go, hey,
(06:40):
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. Can that
impacts how you protect your home?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And so that takes us work.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
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 our insurance
(07:22):
was 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
(07:46):
looked at 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. We
need to go through this whole policy and.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Best.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
She spent three hours.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
With us, and that's my normal.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I learned so much and in a way, I 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,
(08:30):
you know deductible? We 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. It's there to take the big hit. Correct.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Absolutely, it is not for maintenance. Yeah, 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,
(09:16):
got affected my area real heavy, and then every 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 way. It's a maintenance is you Everything's rotted up.
You can see where the shingles are curling. They're like,
why am I replacing a roof that has real maintenance
(09:39):
damage from this storm versus replacing a roof that doesn't
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 engine seizes up,
do you file a claimant? Well, no, Well it's a
(10:01):
maintenance issue. If you, as you always talk, 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.
(10:22):
Now that being said, there's loyalty built up as well,
and that loyalty isn't built up and you 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
(10:43):
you're driving, when you start out at sixteen, same thing,
it's year to year. As you continue to drive, you
get more experienced, the risk drops, your insurance drops. Same thing.
You maintain your home, your risk drops because you're maintaining it.
One of the questions you had asked about was the oh, Gary,
(11:03):
I just lost my mind. I'm not looking at your email.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
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,
(11:29):
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 3 (11:39):
Help for your home is just a click away at
Garysullivan online dot com. He's at home with Gary Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
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We are talking about homeowner's 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
(14:16):
our meeting with our insurance broker is she knew the
people that would inspect houses, and she was talking like you,
She's just talking the truth. This is what's going to 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've
got to maintain your house. And we just had a
(14:38):
couple of calls today about frozen pipes and so how's
insurance deal with that. If you have a frozen pipe,
and yeah, I know a lot of times joy have
a plumber involved just thawing it, that's not going to
be a claim. What happens if.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
It burst, Well, Number one, mitigate, So whatever it takes
to shut out 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
(15:15):
best you can to mitigate damage so it doesn't continue.
That includes some of the big claims like were oh 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
liked it. I like it when people do that. So
get it mitigated. Is it exposed, is it old pipe,
(15:37):
was it a 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 the scary part. You
get into an ice storm and electrics out. Then what well,
(15:58):
the first thing you do shut the water off at
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
(16:19):
melt snow and you can flush the toilet with a
melted bucket of snow. But if you can't flush, then
what do you do? So 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 unknown ice storm, electric out and it
might be a couple of days or even depending on
(16:41):
the cold, twelve hours. Get the water on the pipes.
If it's there's no water in the pipes, there's no expansion.
You're not going to break the pipe.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
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 amount of claim, 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 they notice
(17:12):
that all of your pipes, all your incoming water pipes
are exposed to the outside air well. Now that's an
issue modern homes, 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.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Here.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
All that stuff there 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 limited mold and
(17:56):
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,
but 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 hit, you got to
know what kind of mold of it. There's mold everywhere.
We eat mold. We're we're eating mushrooms, right, so find
(18:18):
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 tree branch crashed on
(18:41):
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 some else.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
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 insulate
(19:24):
and you have an ice dam and then you got
a leak. Is that an incident or is that maintenance.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I cannot say yes or no. I'm not a claims
adjust 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. Yeah, 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.
(19:53):
If 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
(20:13):
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 underlining, underwriting guidelines, and so you could
(20:37):
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 claim.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Is your broker is your advocate. You have to have
a great relationship with your broker that you make that change.
She's already on your side and she's going to see
what she can do.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Beth.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
As always, we ran out of time. I certainly appreciate
your time. I promise we'll 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 (21:19):
So Garry, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Sit tight and we'll try that care all right, Thank you, Carrie.
Have a merry Christmas, do you too, Beth? Thanks all right.
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. You're at home with
Carrie Sullivan.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Home Improvement on with Gary Sullivan every weekend. Classes begin
at one eight hundred and eighty two three Top. You're
at home with Gary Sullivan
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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