Home Insurance – Is Smoke Damage Covered by Insurance?

What if after a fire some parts of or your entire house was damaged by smoke? Does your home insurance policy offer coverage for such damage?

There is no other best way to be fully knowledgeable of your insurance policy coverage, but to ask your insurance policy provider. This article, however, offers valuable and general information with regards to home insurance coverage on smoke damage.

Most insurance policies list two categories of perils: those that are covered and those that are not. If you live in a neighborhood, where one of the perils excluded is a common event, naturally, you will have to pay a corresponding additional fee on your policy to have it covered.

Homeowner’s insurance policies typically include such perils as fire and lightning, wind and hail, explosion, aircraft, riot or civil commotion, ice and snow, theft and vandalism, water damage, and—as this article concentrates on—smoke.

What happens before smoke is fire, which could originate from a tiny flame produced by a matchstick to a major explosion. Most people would say that they do not need insurance for their house in case of fire, because they are very careful whenever they perform activities that make use of fire. This is not an acceptable line of thought, because accidents happen anytime, anywhere, and to anyone. It happens even to the most careful individuals. A lighted candle that is left unattended on a wooden floor could burn down an entire house, or worse, an entire block of buildings. If you don’t have an insurance policy that could cover for such damage, you could be left either homeless or broke from paying a large sum of amount for repair. Such worst cases could be avoided with the help of a home insurance policy.

Smoke may damage a part of or your entire house even if the fire has been quickly put off. In worst scenarios, such damage could force the homeowner to vacate his or her house while it is being sanitized or repainted. Smoke damage is covered by a home insurance policy. Home insurance policies also include smoke damage in their coverage even if it originated from other sources outside the house. Some of the common things that smoke could damage are your furniture and house walls. Your home insurance policy will cover for the cleaning and repainting of such damages.

Although you are now aware that smoke damage is covered by home insurance policies, it is still better to double-check on it with your insurance provider.