My MIL owns a crappy double-wide built in the 80’s, and being the only one around who is handy and will work for free, I end up repairing something every month or two. The plumbing is plastic pipe with crimped on pot-metal connectors, which are starting to break frequently. The floor is particleboard, and in several spots it is very soft to say the least. One of these days a pipe will break while she’s away, and the floor will be destroyed completely.
Does homeowner’s insurance typically cover this type of water damage? Will they declare the place a total loss if the floors are destroyed?
Water damage is usually excluded from what the insurance policy will payout for a mobile home. It happens so often they usually exclude water damage.
You can cut out the damaged composite board and install plywood of the proper thickness. Use tongue and groove plywood if you are doing a large area. Install additional cross braces so the ends of the plywood are resting on a supporting structure. Install support under the edge of where the composite board was cut off or it will break later.
My homeowner’s insurance covers water damage if the damage was from water pipes within our own dwelling. I have used it and every bit of damage was paid for completely.
Thanks. Hopefully the crappy wiring burns the place down first. I do not want to try to replace the entire floor. Right now there are at least 5 spots that need to be replaced, and I’m waiting for her to call and tell me that the water heater or bath tub went through the floor.
We recently noticed ceiling damage which turned out to have been caused by a leaking pan under an upstairs stall shower. Apparently the leak had been going on for years, completely rotting out parts of the bathroom subfloor before damage became noticable through the sheetrock ceiling. Our homeowners company denied the claim on the grounds of it not having been “sudden” enough.
Water damage from a catastrophic pipe burst, or perhaps after roof damage from a falling tree, might well be covered. Pretty much any other water damage, including what you describe, probably isn’t.
If I remember correctly, grey plastic water pipe was made out polybutylene and had a record of failing catastrophically. It was so bad that Shell (the maker of the pipe) had to pay a lot of money in a class action suit. You may be eligible. Here is one such site that talks about it some.
In my own recent experience, where the pipe from the upstairs bathroom was leaking was leaking into the living room, my insurance paid for the cost of opening up the wall and ceiling to make the plumbing repairs, and paid for the the repair of the wall and ceiling, but would not cover the plumbing repair itself. Fortunately, I found someone who could repair the wall and ceiling very cheaply (me) and used the bulk of the insurance money to cover about 1/2 of the plumbers’ bill.