From the Forum – Homeowners Insurance Questions

Photo by PoPville flickr user clif_burns

Homeowners Insurance Questions:

“We are looking at homeowners insurance for our bungalow and wondering if folks have any recommendations on how much coverage to get.

In particular, we’re wondering whether to add sewer/drain backup insurance. It’s an additional $146/year, which seems high (about 15% of the annual cost). We have an unfinished basement and everything we store in it is on tables, not on the ground. Even our appliances are lifted a few inches off the ground.

I’m wondering, in the case of sewer backups, what typically happens? An inch or two? Or a foot or two? We have a $2500 deductible, so would an overflow really cost much more than that?

The house had a minor sewer backup a few years ago due to tree roots in our line that connects to the main line. It wasn’t a big deal in the basement, and the entire old line was replaced with PVC.

I’m inclined to not get the backup insurance given that we have a new line and not likely to have much damage in the basement. But I wanted to hear others’ experiences – am I missing something? Thanks!”

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