Purchasing your home is expensive-mortgage, utilities, improvements, and insurance can stretch your budget to the limit. Homeowner’s insurance is a necessity due to protecting against and limiting your exposure to disasters, and protecting your assets, but can be expensive upfront. There are certain factors that increase the cost of insurance, including your household plumbing fixtures and features. Let’s see how plumbing impacts insurance premiums

Outdated plumbing installations and expensive features that make potential repairs more expensive can drive up insurance costs. The exact amount will depend on your specific issue and insurance company.

“Some insurers will not insure you at all, some will require an inspection, and some will classify you as high-risk,” CEO of insurance-services company InsurEye Alexey Saltykov told the Financial Post.

You may end up paying more in insurance costs if your home features any of these elements:

Finished Basements:

Carpeting and furniture in your basement means greater liability in the event of a plumbing leak. Floods and sewer leaks or backups, will hit basements first and ruin your belongings. Finished basements can cause your insurance premiums to increase up to 20 percent.

Outdated Pipe Material:

Insurance companies care about what pipe material is used in your home because of pipe material like lead and galvanized steel are prone to corrosion and buildup, which decreases the quality and pressure of your water supply. Pipes made of copper or insurance companies prefer more modern materials like PVC or PEX piping.

Backyard Pool:

A pool will increase the estimated cost to rebuild your home by six percent. It will also classify your home into a higher building limit. It can increase liability because of the risk of drowning, particularly if there is no fence around the pool.

Improve Your Insurance Premiums

The convenience of a finished basement and the luxury of a swimming pool may be worth the higher premiums. However, outdated pipes, pose a problem you can correct to improve your water quality and lower your insurance and water bills. If you are interested in replacing your plumbing pipes, contact Mike Wilson Plumbing, your trusted Midlothian and Richmond plumber at (804) 641-6570 today!