A Little Insurance and Preventive Action Offer a Lot of Protection Against Sewer Related Damage
If you’re a homeowner, here’s one of the worst nightmares you can experience. Torrential downpours deluge your property and neighborhood with rainwater, overwhelming your home’s sewer system or your sump pump’s ability to handle the water runoff. The next thing you know, you have raw sewage backing up into your home’s drains, overflowing toilets and tubs or flooding your basement. A backed up sewer can do a real number on your home, causing thousands of dollars in damage to floors, walls, furniture carpeting and electrical systems, as well as pose a major health hazard.
No problem. You’ve got insurance, right? Not so fast. According to the Insurance Information Institute, most sewer system backups are not covered under a typical homeowners insurance policy, nor are they covered by flood insurance.
Uh-oh.
For homes that have been severely damaged
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Common Causes of Sewer and Water Line Damage
Tree root infiltration is the most common cause of sewer line damage. If a complete sewer line replacement is not something you wish to have in your near future, follow these simple tips to prevent root damage and keep your home’s waste plumbing flowing freely.
It’s basic common sense that some kinds of trees and plants pose more potential harm than others to water and sewer lines if they’re planted too close. However, all trees have at least some ability to invade pipes.
Tree roots are most likely to poke through sewer lines that are already damaged and that rest in the top two feet of soil. Lines and sewers that are in good shape usually resist root damage well, but lines with weak spots or cracks are susceptible to infiltration. Large trees that grow quickly are the main culprits, so avoid planting these trees near your sewer system and keep an eye on existing trees that have been growing near lines.
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