House insurance
Owning a house is every person’s dream and even a thought of a mishap with our home sweet home, can send shudders. But still, mishap can occur with anybody anytime. But, one thing that safeguards our home is the home insurance offered by various insurance companies. It protect our homes against natural and man-made calamities.
Let us now see what house insurance means and what all come under its umbrella It covers buildings, contents and personal possessions of an individual. Even though it is not a legal requirement but it is a must for everyone owning a house, to give them a protection cover against burglary, floods, earthquakes, etc. Even though, it cannot repay you the mental agony which you would go through if a mishappening occurs, but still it is an easy way to ensure that the material objects are taken care of.
What home insurance policy covers A house insurance policy insures the structure of the house for its reconstruction value, which refers to the cost which would be incurred if the house is damaged. It is never calculated on the market value, which includes the cost of land and the prevailing market price. The rate of construction of your house depends upon the type of material used for flooring, lawn/garden, surrounding perimeter wall, etc. Contents of home The contents of the home includes furniture, fixtures, clothes, utensils, etc which are valued on the current market value of similar items after depreciation. Some home insurance policies also cover vehicles in your garage or shed, expensive plants or outdoor furniture, etc. Count your items
While taking a house insurance policy, you should list out all items which need to be replaced in case of theft or damage. Do not under or over estimate the value of the objects. Also, if you add new items to your house, inform your insurer accordingly. Valuable items such as fine art, valuable books, jewelry and ornaments can be valued separately. Reducing premiums If you wish to reduce the premium of your policy, then make necessary security arrangements like window locks, mortised locks for exterior doors, burglar alarms and becoming a member of your local neighborhood watch. Closed circuits TVs can also be used for high security, which would help you to monitor the activity around your property at a click of a button of your computer. What does home insurance policy gives cover for Typically, a policy covers your home contents against fire, smoke damage, explosion, earthquake, lightning, storm, flood damage, malicious damage and theft. However, some of the insurance companies offer additional cover, which may include personal liability, food in the freezer, temporary alternative accommodation, storm damage to gates and fences, damage to your garden and theft of garden plants and ornaments.
Preventing burglary Usually, burglars do not intend to do any harm to people and they attack homes which they feel are unsecured. They look for open windows or doors or back doors, where security is less. Take a closed look at your home and see that you leave no doors or windows unlocked and see that their doors are sturdy enough. Check that your fences are not falling apart. Whenever you go out, you can use time switches to switch ON and OFF the lights and TVS etc to give an impression that someone is at home. Ad padlocks to any doors and chain items such as lawn mowers to a post or pillar where possible. Padlock any ladders kept outside horizontally to a sturdy wall bracket. Mark your property with your post code with an ultra violet marking pen to aid identification. Preventing fire and smoke hazards Fires are a common way of house destruction and often caused by negligence in kitchen or smoldering cigarettes left unattended. You can install smoke alarms to detect fire. This will warn you on time and you can evacuate the area. These alarms can be put outside the kitchen. While cooking, the interior doors should be closed and windows should be left open.
There are four types of smoke detectors: ionization (alarms sensitive to tiny smoke particles), optical (detects larger particles of smoke from slow burning fires such as smoldering from upholstery), combined (detects slow burning fires such as chip pan fires) and socket alarms (can be plugged into a light socket). Subsidence Subsidence refers to the shrinkage of clay soils beneath foundations, often caused by roots from nearby vegetation which dry the soil out. Other causes include leaking drains and soil evacuated for building works. It makes the property unstable and a series of cracks appear on the building. Sometimes, doors and windows do not close properly. As a general guide, the crack width/movement would need to be at least 15mm to warrant a severe damage classification. Of all the properties that due suffer from subsidence, only about 20-30% of properties will require some form of underpinning. In many cases, all you need is to remove trees to repair leakages from the pipes underground.
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