What’s In This Articles

• What is a Slab Leak?
• Do homeowner’s insurance offer slab leak insurance?
• Why might your slab leak be denied?
• Why might insurance offer you coverage?
• What is the average cost of a slab leak?
• How to properly file a claim for a slab leak?

What Is A Slab Leak?

“Slab” is another name used for the concrete foundation some homes are built upon. Water and sewer lines often run below the slab. Consequently, slab leak is the term used whenever those lines break or deteriorate and release water under your home’s foundation. A homeowners insurance policy may help pay for damage caused by a slab leak, depending on what caused the leak to occur.

Do Homeowner’s Insurance Offer Slab Leak Insurance Coverage?

Slab leaks are usually covered if it occurred because of an already insured peril. For example, covered perils typically include fire, wind and fallen objects. So, if any of these incidents result in a plumbing leak under the foundation, thus creating a slab leak, then your insurance company will likely help pay to tear out and replace the slab. Moreover, they will also likely pay to repair any other water damage caused to the home by the slab leak. However, homeowners’ insurance does not cover lack of maintenance or damage caused by floods or earthquakes. You can rather get separate earthquake and flood insurance policies.

Other reasons why your insurance company might deny you slab leak insurance coverage:

• First, natural settling, shrinking, bulging, expansion, and cracking of the foundation
• Second, wear and tear, marring, deterioration
• Also, tree root pressure
• As well as sinkholes
• And Rodents, insects, and vermin
• Last but not least, faulty design or construction

Reasons why your insurance company might offer you slab leak insurance coverage:

1. Dwelling Coverage

Dwelling coverage helps pay for damage repair to the structure of your home. Therefore, if you have a slab leak, it may help cover the cost of removing the slab. As well as replacing it, after repairing the plumbing. However, it probably won’t cover the fix of the plumbing itself.

2. Personal Property Coverage

Furthermore, personal property coverage helps repair damage to belongings in your home. For instance, if a slab leak caused water damage to your furniture, personal property coverage may help pay to repair or replace it.

3. Covered Event

As mentioned before, if a covered event damaged your home and that event causes the slab leak, your insurance policy may cover the cost of the slab leak repairs. As well as any other damage that your home incurred as a result of that event. With this in mind, some of the events your insurance will likely cover are the following: explosions, as well as tornadoes, fire, fallen trees, collapse due to snow, ice, rain or sleet, frozen plumbing, cracking by faulting water heating system and vandalism.

Keep in mind that you’ll likely need to pay your deductible before receiving your insurance payout. Furthermore, remember that insurance policies have payout limits and that homeowners insurance will only help cover damage caused by a peril listed in your policy. In fact, most homeowners insurance don’t cover maintenance issues or wear and tear. However, you may be able to add separate service line coverage to your homeowners insurance policy. If you have that coverage, it can help pay to repair damage to a service line.

Average Cost of Slab Leak Insurance Coverage

According to HomeAdvisor, the cost to repair a slab leak can range from $630 to $4,400 with the average repair cost hovering around $2,000.

How To Tell If You Have A Slab Leak

As discussed above, when plumbers talk about slab leaks, they are talking about a leak in either a pressurized water line or in a drain line that runs under the slab foundation of your home. A slab leak can be difficult for the average person to detect until the home begins to exhibit signs.

For this reason, you should be alert and capable of identifying these signs. These indications may include increased water bills, the sound of water running, the loss of water pressure, damp baseboards or wet carpets and floors. If you suspect you have a leak, you can turn off all your taps and water and look at your water meter. In the case that the dial is still spinning, it’s probable you have a leak under your slab or elsewhere in your home. Furthermore, it’s a good idea to hire a professional who can officially determine if there is a leak and where it’s coming from. After you have confirmed your slab leak, your local agent can help you review your policy and answer questions about what risks it covers.

How to Properly File a Claim to Insure Slab Leak Insurance Coverage

1. Assess Your Insurance Policy to Verify if You Have Slab Leak Insurance Coverage

The insurance policy you have is the key factor that determines whether your slab leak insurance claim is accepted by your insurance company. Some homeowners insurance policies cover slab leak repairs, but not the water damage from the leak itself. In other cases, it’s the other way around. Having flood insurance can go a long way toward helping your slab leak insurance claim for both repairing the leak itself and the water damage it caused.

2. File Your Claim As Soon As Possible to Increase Your Chances of Receiving Slab Leak Insurance Coverage

File your slab leak insurance claim as early as possible. Like previously discussed, slab leaks can be difficult to detect and they can cause a large amount of water damage to the foundation of your home. For this reason, filing your insurance claim as soon as you notice any signs of a slab leak in or around your home, is your best shot at increasing the chances of your claim being accepted. Moreover, filing your claim quickly decreases the amount of water damage the leak will cause.

3. What You Should and Shouldn’t Say When Requesting Slab Leak Insurance Coverage

Most homeowners insurance policies don’t cover flood damage. In fact, if the slab leak underneath your home does not seem to be coming from external flooding, make sure you don’t note flood damage when filing your slab leak insurance claim. If you do, your claim will be likely rejected as a result. That is, if you do not have flood insurance, of course. Furthermore, it is also important to note in your insurance claim that the slab leak was a sudden leak and not a leak that developed gradually over time.

4. Get Help from Professionals to Maximize Your Slab Leak Insurance Coverage

Insurance claims can be a hassle no matter what type of damage you’re requesting coverage for. In fact, requesting slab leak insurance coverage cane even be more of a headache given the uncertainty they sometimes bring to the mix. Indeed, dealing with insurance claims can be time consuming and confusing. For this reason, getting help from an insurance professional may be the best option. A public adjuster is an insurance expert that helps you file your claim, negotiate settlements, maximize your payouts and even help out with the repair process. With this in mind, consider hire a public adjuster now to help out with your slab leak insurance claim.