Does Home Insurance Cover Broken Pipes Under a Slab?

Underneath your home's slab, there may be a leak in the plumbing. This slab is the concrete foundation on which the remainder of your home is built. When you are living in a home where the water line is embedded inside a concrete slab, plumbing leaks can easily go undetected. Some of the ways to identify that a slab leak is already happening in your home are that you've noticed low water pressure, foundation cracks in your walls and floors, a musty odor throughout the home, or very high water bills. The basic structure of your home is typically covered by homeowners insurance. This means that the slab and the rest of the home's foundation should be covered only when a covered peril has occurred that caused the initial damage. Your homeowners' insurance, when there is a covered peril, will pay to remove the slab and replace it. 

Asking the question "Does homeowners insurance cover broken pipes under a slab?" requires a thorough evaluation of the situation that led to the problem in the first place. Different types of covered damage should be listed explicitly in your homeowners' insurance policy. If the slab damage occurs as a result of a covered event, your insurance company can pay for the removal of the slab and repairs to it. Furthermore, the personal property coverage part of your policy may come into play if your slab leak leads to water damage to your belongings like your furniture.

Common causes of slab leaks and cracks that are covered by homeowners’ insurance include fallen trees, tornadoes, fire, explosion, burst pipes, collapse due to ice, sleet, rain, or snow, frozen plumbing if you were maintaining heat in the home, vandalism, or sudden cracking of a hot water system. However, this means there are plenty of scenarios when the answer to "Does homeowners insurance cover broken pipes under a slab?" is no. 

Slab leaks that are not covered by homeowners insurance will be the result of an investigation of the scene of the incident and a determination of what caused the initial leak. Some of the things that will not be covered by a homeowners insurance policy are faulty construction or design, sinkholes, earthquakes or flooding, wear and tear, deterioration, natural settling, insects, or rodents. Although homeowners insurance will help to repair water damage and slab leaks caused by burst pipes, you should not expect that your homeowner’s insurance will cover the broken pipes. 

If you determine that the pipes are broken but there is no damage to your actual slab, you will need to cover out of pocket the broken pipe replacement. This is why it is a good idea to have your slab evaluated by a professional inspector every few years. This person should have a contracting background in working on foundations and can help to identify early signs. 

Home advisor research shows that the majority of homeowners pay just over $2,000 for slab leak repairs. Bear in mind that your homeowners' insurance policy probably also has a deductible on it and that then the insurance company would pick up the remainder of the loss excluding those broken pipes. If you are having a difficult situation working with your homeowner’s insurance company trying to recover what you believe is a covered loss, you may want to hire an experienced and knowledgeable insurance lawyer to help you. 

Read through the specifics of your homeowners' insurance policy to learn more about situations where the homeowners' insurance company should be following protocol. If you believe that they have deviated from covered perils in your policy or are wrongfully delaying, denying, or minimizing your claim, you can use this information to allege that the insurance company is engaged in bad faith. It is a serious matter to accuse an insurance company of bad faith dealings so make sure that you proceed cautiously. The support of an experienced lawyer is instrumental in guiding you through this legal process and providing answers to your questions.

Insurance companies have a legal obligation to handle insurance claims in a timely manner and to avoid legal behavior that harms your rights. If this happens to you, then you can file a bad faith insurance claim to recover compensation for damage done to you. It is a serious matter to allege a bad faith claim, so you want to meet with a lawyer first before moving forward with your legal claim. The support of a lawyer is instrumental in helping you protect your interests. Make sure that you speak to a dedicated lawyer about your case as soon as possible.

In the best-case scenario, you can file an insurance claim for your slab damage and get compensated quickly. If you and the insurance company can agree on the amount owed to you, this is a seamless process. Unfortunately, however, this is rarely the way it goes for someone dealing with a situation involving slab damage. You might discover that your insurance company is delaying or denying your claim, prompting you to file a bad faith insurance lawsuit against them.

If you’re not familiar with how the insurance process works, you need to share your concerns about your specific case with a lawyer who knows the lay of the land. With so many questions to be asked, it’s important that you find a lawyer who cares about protecting your rights and giving you the best chance to recover compensation. 

When filing a slab damage claim, the insurance company might work with a local contracting company to come out and create an estimate. This is only the first stage in the insurance process. The insurance company heavily relies on the report submitted by the contractors with a bid before deciding how much of the damage they will cover. It is possible that the contractor determines that the cause of the slab leak is a burst water line. In that case, the contractor might be able to fix both the slab problem and the waterline, but your insurance company will not always cover the broken pipes underneath. In that case, the bid will be sent over to the insurance company for their review. They might also ask for additional evidence like photos or videos, so be prepared to provide these.

It’s up to you to submit your insurance claim as soon as possible after the incident happens. If you wait too long and additional damage occurs, your insurance company might have a problem approving that claim, especially if you had reason to notice the slab leak or burst pipes at some point in the past.

If you’re dealing with a current slab leak problem, you can talk to our experienced attorneys at Morgan & Morgan today and receive a free, no-obligation case evaluation to take your first steps toward resolving this unfortunate issue.