Premier Public Adjusters are available to comprehensively assess your wind damage insurance claims here in North Carolina. Heavy winds that do a lot of damage can tear off roof shingles, rip doors off their hinges, knock over small outbuildings, drop branches and limbs on buildings, and so much more.
Premier Public Adjusters are prepared to help restore your life to normal after these terrible wind damages. This includes aiding the process from the initial on-site wind damage property estimates through the assessment of your insurance company adjuster's estimates for completeness.
What if you can not see obvious damage like missing roofing?
Water stains on a ceiling are often a sign of damage caused by wind. Heavy winds can shake a house or building in such a way as to create cracks big enough for water to creep in. Severe wind damage can let water into your home by opening up siding joints or tear off roofing.
When there is a lot of wind, the first thing that will happen is that these cracks will open up. Then, when it rains, water will get into the cracks. Stains on the ceiling or walls can signify this water leaking through the cracks. So if you see water stains, you are likely only seeing a small amount of the damage.
Even if you can not see any damage from the ground, a substantial amount of damage could have occurred to your home. This is especially true for damages to roofs. If you look at new roofs, you will see that they have a sealing strip that will keep them in place after the top is put on. When there are strong winds, that sealing strip will pull apart and break that nice, tight seal, which could let water into your building. After the wind stops blowing, those same shingles will fall back into place and appear as if no damage had occurred. But they will let water in very quickly in the future. This is why if you see water stains, or suspect for any reason that wind damage has occurred, then you should call an experienced roofer, such as our experts at Premier Public Adjusting, as soon as possible. It does not take long for a small leak to become a major insurance claim.
Your Homeowner's Insurance and Wind Damage
Most property insurance policies in North Carolina cover losses caused by wind damage. But some policies only cover hurricanes to a limited extent or require that a higher deductible be bought just for storms. Most states where hurricanes can cause damage have insurance plans as per required by the government. These plans cover hurricane damage for property owners who can not get insurance on their own.
Most of the time, a property insurance policy will cover physical damage caused by a windstorm. If the damage is evident, like when whole roofs or walls or parts of ceilings are blown away, it is easy to figure out what will be covered. After this initial observation, however, the most important question for the property owner is, "How much will it cost to fix or replace the damage to make my property whole again?" While this is being assessed, additional obstacles occur. For business owners, they will have to keep track of any money lost due to in operation from the wind damage. Damage to business inventory and personal property is often a big part of the insurance claim for windstorm damage. For homeowners, if their home is deemed “unfit to live”, then relocation plans will have to be made and said costs will be included in the insurance coverage.
If a windstorm causes water damage, you need to review your policy's terms. Usually, you are covered if there is a hole in the building that lets water in. Most of the time, water damage to the items would also be counted as part of the loss. In a hurricane, rain pushed by the wind can also cause a lot of trouble since many insurance companies will not pay out unless there is a hole or opening in a building.
Policies that cover windstorms usually do not cover floods, and policies that cover floods typically do not cover storms. So, what happens when a hurricane damages property, especially along the coasts? Will the companies covering windstorms and floods point fingers at each other, leaving you, the policyholder, in the middle?
If you have lost something because of wind and flood, you need to be ready to show which caused which part of your loss. Public adjusters frequently help policyholders figure out what damage was caused by wind and what was caused by water.
Here at Premier Public Adjusters, our experts work to get you the best compensation possible. They are not concerned about the bottom line for an insurance company, but rather how to give you the financial compensation you deserve to make you whole once more!
For more information, Contact us at 704-736-3683