Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Furniture?

While it is important to safeguard your home and exterior structures, most people are just as devoted to their items as they are to their property. After all, your possessions represent a culmination of your life's years and the things that matter the most to you. You probably spent months looking for the ideal sofa or coffee table. The last thing you want is for your furniture to be unprotected in the case of a disaster.

Fortunately, furniture is covered under your regular homeowners' insurance policy's personal belongings coverage. However, you'll want to keep a running inventory of your furniture and photos of the current state of your furniture. You want to be able to give insurance with a complete list of your items and documentation of damages in the event of a disaster.

Homeowner's insurance will cover other personal things lost due to theft, fire, hurricanes, or other covered disasters and furniture. Expensive jewelry, art furs, collectibles, and off-property things are all protected under this policy. Coverage is often 50 to 70% of the total insurance you carry on your home's structure. A home inventory is useful in this situation. It can assist in the case of a total loss of home and possessions in the event of a fire, not only in guiding your coverage selections (ensuring you have enough) but also in the event of a total loss of home and things of a fire.

What Are the Different Types of Damage Covered by Personal Property Insurance?

Though your property insurance usually covers furniture, damage-specific coverage is sometimes available. The policy determines the damages that you are covered for. Open peril and named peril insurance plans are the two types of policies available. When it comes to personal belongings, each selects what damages are covered.

Peril Policies With A Name

When it comes to furniture and valuables, you probably have coverage based on "identified" dangers if you have a typical homeowners insurance, sometimes known as an HO-3. To be covered under a named peril policy, your belongings must be destroyed by something specifically stated in the policy.

The following are the 16 most common dangers stated in the policy:

• Lightning
• Fire
• Wind or hail
• Damage to aircraft
• Explosions
• Unrest in the community
• Damage caused by smoke
• When a vehicle causes damage, it is referred to as "vehicle damage
• Theft or vandalism are two different things.
• Objects that fall (i.e. a tree)
• Eruptions of volcanoes
• Snow, ice, and sleet damage
• Plumbing, heating, and air conditioning systems have all caused water damage.
• Is your water heater on fire or cracking?
• Damage caused by electricity
• Freezing of pipes

For example, if a heavy snowfall forced your ceiling to collapse, causing your furniture to fall, your furniture would be covered because the caustic event was a listed risk. In contrast, if your neighbor's cat enters through an open door or a wild animal enters through an open door and shreds up your couch, the couch is not covered because "animal damage" is not a specified risk.

Policies That Are At Risk

On the other hand, open peril policies are designed to protect your furniture and belongings against virtually any form of harm, as long as the damage isn't specifically excluded from your basic policy.

In general, open peril insurance does not often cover the following events:

• The foundation is being expanded.
• Natural shrinkage or settling
• Tree roots exert pressure.
• Floods caused by earthquakes
• Substandard construction job
• Insects or rodents
• Damage to pets
• Natural deterioration
• a mold infestation
• Corrosion

Imagine you have an open policy and your furniture is ruined due to a natural disaster. Even though the earthquake was beyond your control, your homeowners' insurance would not cover the furniture. Typically, it is up to your home insurance company to determine whether the damage is covered.