Thinking About Filing a Mold Damage Insurance Claim in Palm Beach County?

If you live in the West Palm Beach area, chances are you’ve had to deal with mold at some point. We live in a damp, rainy climate—especially in the summer months of June, July, August and September—and mold damage is sometimes just a fact of life for the residents of South Florida.

There are a number of reasons why mold might appear in your home. In many cases, it is the result of water damage, such as when a roof leak, broken water pipes or flood impacts your home. If restoration crews do not adequately clean up the water damage, there can be pockets of moisture that eventually lead to mold in your home. In other cases, mold damage comes simply from long-term exposure to the damp environment of Palm Beach County.

Regardless, many homeowners immediately consider filing an insurance claim for mold damage. But that’s not always a wise move. Before you speak to your insurance company, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

First and most importantly, you should know that mold is almost never covered as a cause of loss. However with water damage, such as in the case of a burst pipe, appliance leak or flooding, insurers will typically cover the loss.

Prior to any filed insurance claims, you need to find out where the mold is coming from and what is causing it. To help figure it out, speak with a public adjuster, who can help you analyze the damage and determine if it’s worth filing an insurance claim. At Advocate Claims, we work with many homeowners facing this very issue. And if we cannot confidently confirm the cause of the mold damage, we put our clients into contact with plumbers, roofers and other professionals who can.

You might be thinking: What’s the harm in at least filing an insurance claim to see if I’m covered? The truth is that this could backfire on you. By filing a claim, your insurer is now aware of your mold problem, which could impact future, unrelated damage claims.

With this in mind, your public adjuster can help you determine if there is enough damage to justify filing an insurance claim. This will depend on how much money it will cost to fix the problem, as well as your insurance deductible. After all, if the cost of the damage is going to be less than what you would pay in a deductible, it would make no sense to even notify the insurance company about the mold damage.

It’s worth noting that while we work with many individuals and families dealing with mold damage in the Delray Beach and Jupiter areas, we are not mold experts. We are, however, well versed in the common causes of mold, how to test for mold, best practices for remediation and the requirements for a successful mold or water damage insurance claim.

If you have mold damage in your home and are unsure about how to proceed, we invite you to contact us today.

Serving Palm Beach County, including Delray Beach, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Juno Beach, Lantana, Boca Raton and the surrounding areas. To learn more, call 561-962-0065.