Possible basement HT disaster....

[nitrox1]

For those of us who have or will decide to put their home theater in the basement,First Check With Your Insurance Company. I recently read somewhere that only items such as heater,water heater, washer and dryer and possibly water filtration equipment are covered in case of a flood in your basement. Further that if you had a choice an attic would be the better place. I have not asked my insurance company yet but I will, not only do I have the HT in my basement but many other items are stored there, that may not be covered. To add insult to injury if your basement is finished, that may or may not be covered either.
My advice is everyone should call their insurance company and ask what is covered if the basement gets flooded and you have your HT there. Call for your peace of mind. And let us all know what you find out.

[nova]

Good advise. Check with your insurance co.
My basement flooded a couple years ago, I had a bunch of stuff down there. I was covered cause the flood was due to a leaking secondary water line,... if it had been just rain water I would not have been covered.
From what I've seen over the years, if it is natural (rain, river, ground water etc.) you will not normally be covered and would need a separate flood insurance policy. If it is a broken pipe, faulty plumbing etc. you are usually covered.
Give your agent a call and see!

[nitrox1]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us, sorry about your flood but it sounds like the insurance did alright by you. Was your HT destroyed by the flood. The reason I ask is that most insurance policies pay out on customary items and not for items over the top. Let say you had a stored art work in your basement and it was flooded, would they pay, probably not unless you paid extra up front and had the artwork appraised. I'm no expert by a long shot but I'm not convinced all would be covered.
Insurance companies by their very nature spend all day everyday trying not to pay out on claims if the can get away with it. A little story, I was sitting in traffic bumper to bumper after a Yankee game, when the guy behind me decided he would try to drive on the sidewalk to avoid the traffic, well he hit me while my car was in park, almost no damage. When I contacted the insurance company they tried to say that it was half my fault, what planet do these guys live on.
I do not assume anything when it comes to insurance, except that if they can find a way not to pay, they will.

[nova]

Yeah, they were pretty good to me. The HT was on the ground level (house was a 4 level split) and was fine. The basement had washer/dryer, my home office with a couple computers on the floor, wooden bookshelves, some coffee tables, camping gear, wife's scrapbooking stuff, lots of family photos etc.

They covered everything we claimed, though it does seem like there was some sort of depreciation factored in. Did not claim the washer/dryer, they were still working fine, but they were covered for up to two years after the flood if they were to fail due to any damage from the flood,.... they are both still working fine . A lot of the other electrical stuff did not fare so well.

[nitrox1]

Thanks again Mark. Does anyone else have a story to share?

[nitrox1]

Hi Joe, Question
I just wanted to ask a question about what items are covered if they were in the basement and it was flooded due to a broken pipe. Let me preface this for you, I belong to a Home Theater group online and we were wondering what would be covered by insurance if it were in the basement. Would a finished basement be covered,or a Home Theater or even a Picasso. I'm not asking about special riders, just a typical policy what would be covered?
Answer
Under the scenario you presented below, with a broken pipe, any damage to your basement area (or in the house itself for that matter) including your electronics, furniture, walls and other personal belongings, would be covered under the standard Homeowners (HO3) policy, which is your standard policy sold today.
With the scenario of a Picasso (art work) or furs or any other items that are specifically detailed in an HO policy with coverage limits, the HO policy would only cover up to those limits. Subsequently, these limits are typically very low and for proper coverage, you alluded to correctly, one should consider the inland marine rider for specific and proper coverage for these types of items.

Sometimes there is the confusion of coverage for basements as it relates to flood damage. That is a whole different topic and to sum it up, if damage to say a basement was caused by flooding, the homeowners policy excludes any and all flood damage. Under a flood policy, if it is in place, the home theater and all another personal belongings along with most of the "finished basement" would not be covered under flood insurance either.

Hope this helps....let me know if you need anything additionally.

Joe

A. Joseph Stepnoski
Account Executive
Neefus-Stype Insurance Agency Inc.
711 Union Avenue, P.O. Box 2340
Aquebogue, NY 11931
631-722-3500 x 201
631-722-3591 (fax)
jstepnoski@nsainsure.com

[superchad]

I know nothing is promised but in our area (Ohio) just about every house that has a basement has a Sub-Pump, in our last house if the power failed the basement would flood within an hour because water would always rise and was evacuated every 10 minutes or so...no power quick flood and if it was during a storm...god help you, it happened to everyone I knew that was out in the country like we were. Well you can guess we had nothing of value down there and what was was on pallets as far away as possible. When we looked at a new house last fall we found the perfect house for us and it just happened to be on a hill, it was hard to believe that it had no pump in basement but its been here since 1957 and no reported problems...buy a house on a hill if you can!
There is a new product I saw on DIY network's "Cool Tools" show that you can place on any water pipe for a few bucks and it will sense a pressure change and shut off water in the event of a washer or hot water line or any plumbing problem that may arrise, for those who do have puimps in basement it is always a great idea to have a car battery back up power supply for your pump in an emergency, that $300 investment can save you $30,000 easily!

[nitrox1]

Good advise and thanks for the tips, I'm sure someone out there needed to hear what you had to say.