
Will Home Insurance Cover Roof Replacement?
January 11, 2025
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Home insurance is a great way to preserve our peace of mind. Homes are getting increasingly more expensive and being a homeowner is no “walk in the park.” You have a lot of responsibilities. Beyond caring for the kids and working your day job, you have to do your daily duties around the house, keeping it clean, doing yard work, and performing small repairs when necessary. Your roof is a huge responsibility, and since it’s the first line of defense for your home against the elements, keeping it protected can go a long way. If something happened, would your home insurance policy be enough to cover a total roof replacement?
The answer is: it depends. If you’ve read enough insurance content, you’re probably tired of hearing the old “it depends” answer, but it really does vary depending on the scenario!
In 2024, the average roof replacement cost between $5,727 and $12,418. That’s no small amount. If you were wondering if you’d have coverage if your roof was unexpectedly damaged and needed replacement, then check out this blog and get your answer here!
Home insurance & Your Roof
Home insurance in Ontario does, as you might expect, cover your roof. It covers your roof if your home should be damaged as a result of any unexpected and accidental insured perils, such as:
- Fire and smoke
- Lightning
- Wind and hail
- Theft and vandalism
- Impact by aircraft or vehicle
- Water damage (with an endorsement)
- Earthquake (with an endorsement)
- Falling objects
- …and more!
So, if your roof were destroyed or irreparably damaged in an event that is covered, you could expect your policy to kick in for the cost of replacing your roof up until the limits of your coverage. Your roof would likely be replaced with one of similar value to the one that was lost.
Also, your roof affects your home insurance premiums! Its condition, the materials it was made from, and its age will be factored into your total insurance costs. Keeping it in decent repair and considering a total replacement once it’s reached the end of its lifespan will likely help keep your rates within reason.
When Won’t Home Insurance Cover Roof Replacement?
Home insurance will not cover the cost to replace or repair a roof that has gradually deteriorated, whether that is due to age or simply neglect. A roof that is over the age of 20 will likely have limited coverage. Note as well that if your older or neglected roof allowed water to seep through into the home, that water damage might be covered by your property policy, but the cost to repair the roof would likely not be, since the roof was weakened by deterioration.
Also, intentional damage, shoddy workmanship, and infestation will generally not be covered by your home insurance policy.
Your roof has direct exposure to the elements, so it can bear the brunt of unexpected disasters. If the damage was due to an insured loss, yes, the dwelling coverage of your home policy would cover you, but not due to wear-and-tear or gradual deterioration. And this may even apply if an insured loss did occur, but the frailty of the damages or the scale of the damages could be traced back to lack of maintenance, neglect, wear-and-tear, or deterioration with age.
To ensure your claim is honoured if something does happen to your roof, do the following:
- Keep all records of repairs
- Keep reports from inspections
- Take before-and-after photos
- Notify your insurer as soon as damage occurs
With climate-change increasing the frequency of storms and natural disasters – causing insurers to predict a rise in property loss claims after deadly storms in Ontario and Quebec in 2022 – we can expect our property policies to protect us from insured property damage to our roofs, and perhaps help out with the total cost to repair or even totally replace our roofs.
And by the way, if you were a renter whose roof was damaged, your contents would likely have coverage under your tenant or renters insurance policy. The cost of repairs or replacement for the roof would likely be covered by your landlord’s policy.
Risk Management for Roof Issues, Extending Roof Lifespan, & Other Tips
Remember that as the homeowner, and the owner of your policy, the wellbeing of your home (and its roof) falls to you. Looking after your home, regularly clearing it of debris, inspecting seasonally for any damages, and hiring a professional to do the dirty work if you can’t do it yourself are all responsibilities that fall to you. General maintenance costs and repair work for wear-and-tear won’t be covered by insurance. Since age is most definitely going to work against the wellbeing of your roof, practicing some risk management for your roof and extending its lifespan can go a long way.
Here are some of Excalibur’s top tips:
- Hire a licensed professional to do a regular inspection. Some companies will do this for free, hoping to incentivize you to hire them back for later repair or restoration work.
- Trim any trees that are touching/hanging over your roof, to prevent debris from accumulating. This will also prevent any heavy branches from falling onto your roof during a storm.
- Check on your shingles and gutters after a long snowy period or a big storm.
- Make sure that your home is up to current building code if you live in an area with high winds.
- Make sure eavestroughs and gutters are regularly cleared so they don’t back up and prevent water from draining properly. Ensuring adequate drainage can help prevent water damage to your home. Clogged gutters can also freeze and crack in the winter.
Improper maintenance and neglect are never be covered by your insurance, so always be sure to keep on top of any potential issues as they crop up. And, if you aren’t sure if something is covered, don’t hesitate to give us a call here at Excalibur to discuss.