Will Home Insurance Cover Mold?

Home insurance in Ontario is designed to cover your property, its structure, and your contents against a wide range of physical risks. Most standard home insurance policies will also include a liability component, which can protect you and your family if a guest is injured on your property or if you are held liable for causing injury anywhere else in the world.

However, with home insurance not being considered “standard” nor mandated by any provincial government, what it covers can vary immensely. Home insurance is an agreement between the insured and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to offer compensation for covered damages and losses in exchange for premiums – the cost of which is calculated based on a host of different factors of the home and its household. Home insurance costs vary between $1,000-$1,500/year in Ontario. Ultimately, home insurance is a great way to protect your property and grant you peace-of-mind – but it still won’t cover everything under the sun.

In this series, “Will Home Insurance Cover…?” we address numerous misconceptions in the property insurance sphere, such as whether or not home insurance covers mold infestations. In this article, we discuss what mold is, how to identify an infestation, and whether or not your insurance covers it.

What is mold?

Mold is a type of fungal organism. It’s alive, and it produces structures so small that the naked eye cannot see them. These are called hyphae, which create spores that can affect our health negatively.

Mold has certain requirements to grow, including moisture, warmth, still air, and dark conditions. A lot of areas in Canada, especially in homes, are prime targets for mold.

Water damage is one of the major causes of mold damage. If you have suffered a water loss, know that severe water damage can cause mold to grow beneath drywall and underneath your flooring. Over time, this can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. If you had the correct coverage, this damage would likely be covered by your insurance provider.

How do you identify it?

You’re likely to find mold (if you suspect an infestation) in the kitchen of your home, bathrooms, basements, windowsills, and any exposed pipework.

Mold can look like small, fuzzy patches. You’ve probably seen it on food in your home that’s gone bad. It can be as small as a couple of spots or it can be a full blown infestation. Sometimes, mold can result in health issues in your household before you’ve even realized it’s there. Common mold infestation symptoms are red eyes, irritated skin/eyes, breathing issues, or runny nose.

If any person in your household already suffers from allergies or from asthma, their symptoms may be exacerbated by the presence of mold.

Mold requires damp conditions to grow. If you have recently experienced a leak or flood, it might do you some good to check around for any mold growth. Check all your books, carpeting, base boards, and wallpaper for any indication of growth.

What do you do if you notice mold

If you have identified a mold infestation in your home, you need to act pronto. Section off any areas in your home that you notice have been affected by mold. Taking the time to do so may prevent the mold infestation from spreading to additional areas of your home, and mold can do so very quickly.

It’s also recommended that you turn off your home’s HVAC system, to prevent spores from becoming airborne and potentially reaching your family’s respiratory system. Mold can cause toxins to build up in your body, negatively affecting your health and mold can even increase your risk of more serious illnesses. Once this is done, notify your insurance provider and/or mold remediation services as swiftly as you can. The quicker it’s gone, the quicker you’re back to 100%.

Does home insurance cover mold?

Unlike auto insurance in Ontario, home insurance isn’t mandated. Still, even with it not being required, it’s highly recommended. If you have home insurance, the question then is: are mold infestations covered by your home insurance?

It can and it might not. Home insurance will only cover damages to your home that are unintentional and unexpected. The key word here is “unexpected” – if your home has been suffering due to a lack of maintenance and you’ve failed to upkeep your property regularly, and a mold infestation starts, you will almost certainly be denied coverage. The same applies for if you’ve found a leaky pipe that has caused mold to form underneath a sink. Unless that leaky pipe was caused by a claim that was validated previously, you – the homeowner – will be responsible for the cost of remediation.

But, if the mold is related to a validated claim or if your home is struck by a flash flood that you have overland water coverage for, the cost of remediation may be covered by your insurer, since you would not be deemed at fault.

The best way to deal with mold infestations is to be proactive. Of course, you can’t always prevent flash flooding, but most instances of mold growth are slow and gradual, which you can mitigate by keeping your home clean and regularly maintained. Data from a 2018 Canadian housing survey suggested 5% of Canadian homes had patches of mold larger than one square meter. Mold of this size has the potential to negatively affect your health!

Take action and look after your home. Give us a call here at Excalibur Insurance to discuss how you can manage your home’s health and to see what is/isn’t covered by your home insurance.