You have holes in your drywall. There are areas where it seems something chewed its way into your home. Or, your home’s wiring is not working properly due to some type of animal damage. It’s frustrating when this happens. It’s only natural to have a few questions, too. Will home insurance help cover the damage a pest like this can cause?  

There are a few situations where your insurance policy may be able to provide you with the help you need in case of pest damage. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect. 

Will Home Insurance Get Rid of Rodents? 
Rodents can be problems for any homeowner. Even if you try a significant amount of prevention (regular pest treatments, traps etc.) you could still face a problem with pests from time to time.  

Unfortunately, home insurance considers pest removal a component of routine maintenance. As a result of this, most policies do not provide any coverage for this type of removal. You may have to pay to have the rodents or other pests removed from your home. 

What About the Damage They Cause? 
Most often, the damage caused by pests is not a part of your home insurance coverage either. Simply put, most pest damage is preventable, avoidable or slow acting, which is not the type of damage that the average home insurance policy is most likely to cover. This can be frustrating. But, it is up to the homeowner to make sure his or her home has proper maintenance from risks like this.

There are some examples of when this might not be the case, though. For example, a pest may bite through your electrical wires. The wire damage can cause a fire to occur at your home. If this happens, your home insurance is likely to provide coverage for the fire damage repair. While it will not outright cover the damage from the pest – such as fixing wiring that has been damaged by a pest but has not caused a fire – it can help if a devastating fire occurs. You had no way of knowing the rodent got into your wiring and triggered the fire, after all. 

What Should You Do? 
If you have evidence of any type of infestation around your home, it is critical to take steps to clean it up.  

Start by having a professional come to your home to provide maintenance services. This should include finding the source of the pest, taking steps to eradicate it, and then instituting future prevention techniques. If there is damage to the structure or any other element around your home, you should make those repairs, too.

Home insurance can be a very important investment for you. Though it may not cover some types of risks, it can be a very important tool for protecting you from financial loss for big events, such as fires triggered by pests.