There are aspects of Homeowners Insurance that cover specific areas of your home, such as your personal property, dwelling, or personal injury cases. The ‘other structures coverage’ portion of your homeowners insurance policy is the part that covers or helps pay to repair or replace other structures on your property other than your home, such as a fence, a shed, or a detached garage. Other structure coverage kicks in if a tree crashes through your shed or your white picket fence is suddenly struck by lightning.
What kinds of structures are covered?
As previously mentioned, items covered by other structures coverage include:
- fences,
- detached garages, (and also)
- gazebos, and
- in-ground swimming pools
Since it’s all on the same policy, typically any perils that are covered by your dwelling coverage for your home are also covered for the other structures on your property as well.
What Isn’t Included?
It’s important to note that, like with other sections of your homeowners insurance policy, other structures coverage only covers damaged sustained by a covered peril.
Thus, damage done by volcanos, seismic events, tornados, or hurricanes may not be covered by your policy. If you feel like risk in your area is great enough, you can purchase these types of insurance separate from your homeowners insurance policy.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has helpful tsunami maps and volcano charts to help you assess risk when determining if extra insurance is necessary.
How Much Coverage Do you Have Available for Other Structures?
The answer to this, simply put, is that it depends. According to the Insurance Information Institute, most of the time your other structures coverage amount will be based on your dwelling coverage limit. For example, if your dwelling coverage limit is $450,000, your other structures coverage may be $90,000, or ~20%. This isn’t a hard estimate, and percentages can change based on several factors. For your coverage for other structures, talk with your agent at Pfarr Insurance Agency.
Note:
Make sure to check your other structures limit before adding other structures to your property such as a new shed or gazebo. This will help you make sure you have enough to cover repair of replacement if necessary.
If you realize that your coverage will be insufficient, talk to your agent. They can help adjust your coverage limits to accommodate your home improvements.
