Water Back Up: What's Covered vs. What's Not Covered

Water Back Up: What’s Covered vs. What’s not Covered

When it comes to Water Back Up Coverage, what’s actually covered on your homeowner’s insurance policy? If the toilet overflows, the drains back up, the sump pump fails, or a sewer line breaks, what exactly is covered? The difference between being covered vs. not covered often depends on a simple endorsement on your homeowner policy.

A majority of homeowner insurance policies provide no, or little, coverage for water back up. Sure, if a water line breaks, a dishwasher line leaks, or a pipe bursts in your wall, those are all covered on a base homeowner policy. However, there is an endorsement of Water Back Up of Sewers and Drains that can be purchased to add coverage onto your homeowner policy. This optional endorsement will give back coverage from water that escapes, overflows, or discharges from a sump pump. It’s often sold in $5,000 increments of coverage starting at $5,000 and can be increased up to $50,000.

So in the end, there is coverage for certain water losses on a base homeowner policy. However, water losses dealing with actual water back up are either very limited, or not included on a base homeowner policy. At Roselius Insurance Agency, our goal is to always provide the best coverage possible. We often recommend adding Water Back Up Coverage to your homeowner policy. Hopefully this helps shed some light on why we recommend this coverage and how it protects you.