A standard homeowners policy usually pays for sudden, accidental damage from a covered cause, such as fire, wind, hail, theft or a burst pipe. It usually doesn’t pay for flood, earthquake and other earth movement, sewer backup, wear and tear, pests or most mold. This section explains how the standard form reaches those answers, so you can read your own policy the same way, and points you to the page for each kind of damage.
General information, not legal or insurance advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Your policy’s wording and your state’s law decide, and both change. For help with your claim, your state insurance department’s consumer line and legal aid are free.
Every answer here comes from the ISO HO-3 specimen form, the industry’s standard “special form” homeowners policy. Each insurer can use its own wording, add endorsements and attach a state amendatory endorsement, so read “usually” as exactly that.
Start with how the policy is built
If you read one page in this section, make it what homeowners insurance covers, clause by clause. It walks through the six coverages, lettered A to F: the dwelling (the house and anything attached to it), other structures such as a detached garage or shed, your belongings, loss of use (extra living costs while a covered loss keeps you out), personal liability and medical payments to others. It also covers the special limits on valuables and the endorsements that change the answer.
Two ideas from that page carry through every claim.
- The house is insured on “open perils”. A peril is a cause of loss. The specimen insures the house and other structures against direct physical loss, then lists what it doesn’t cover (the exclusions). So the useful question is not “is this listed?” but “does an exclusion apply to what happened?”
- Your belongings are insured on “named perils”. In the 2000 specimen, belongings are covered only for 16 listed causes, such as fire or lightning, windstorm or hail, theft and accidental discharge of water from plumbing. A cause not on the list isn’t covered for your things, even if the same event damaged the house.
Sudden is usually covered; slow usually isn’t
Most “is it covered?” questions come down to the exclusions for the house. The specimen leaves out things a house does on its own over time: wear and tear, deterioration, mechanical breakdown, hidden defects, rust, settling and cracking, insects and vermin, and most mold. The consumer guide to home insurance from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the body of state insurance regulators, puts the idea in one line: a homeowners policy “isn’t a maintenance contract”.
Two exceptions in the same part of the form keep a lot of claims alive.
- Ensuing loss. Damage that follows an excluded cause, and isn’t excluded itself, may still be covered. A worn-out water heater isn’t paid for, but the floor its sudden leak soaks may be.
- Accidental discharge. Water that escapes suddenly from plumbing, heating, air conditioning, a sprinkler system or a household appliance is usually covered for the damage to the house, including tearing out part of a wall to reach the pipe. The pipe or appliance it came from usually isn’t.
Some exclusions are stricter still. Flood, surface water and overflow of a body of water are excluded “whether or not driven by wind”, and the form says causes in that first group are excluded even when another cause contributed. Our guide to flooding and the flood exclusion explains where wind ends and flood begins, and why flood cover comes from a separate policy.
Heating and cooling: the unit and the damage around it
A furnace, boiler, central air system or installed heat pump is usually part of the dwelling, so it is insured on open perils. That is why whether homeowners insurance covers HVAC and AC units depends on what happened. Lightning, fire, hail, wind, a falling tree or theft usually reach it. A compressor that wears out, a coil that rusts through or a unit that fails from a hidden defect usually doesn’t, because those causes are excluded. When a condensate line or boiler leaks, the form splits the claim: the stained ceiling is often covered, the system itself usually isn’t.
The page also covers freezing, power surges, the “outdoor equipment” line the specimen settles at actual cash value only, and the two products that fill the breakdown gap: an equipment breakdown endorsement and a home warranty.
Termites and pests: excluded, with one narrow way back
The standard form names insects among the causes of loss it doesn’t insure, and termite damage is slow, which brings in the wear and deterioration exclusions too. Termite damage and homeowners insurance goes through the wording and the two narrow ways money can still follow.
- Collapse. The Collapse additional coverage can pay when a building, or part of one, abruptly falls down or caves in because of insect damage that was hidden from view and that no insured knew about beforehand. A floor that sags, bulges or cracks but is still standing is not a collapse under this wording.
- A covered loss that follows. If a fire or a sudden plumbing leak comes after the insects, that fire or water damage may be covered. The termite damage and the cost of treatment or tenting usually are not.
Each kind of damage, in its own section
For the full clause and what to check, go to the section for your kind of damage:
- Roof, hail and wind: roof leaks, hail and wind claims, fallen trees, when a new roof is paid for and the matching rules for roof and siding. Wind or hail damage to a roof is usually covered after the deductible; an old roof that starts leaking usually isn’t.
- Water, mold and flood: the sudden-versus-slow line for leaks, burst pipes, mold, foundations, sewer backup (excluded unless you added a water backup endorsement), flood and NFIP claims. Start with water damage and homeowners insurance.
- Fire, smoke and theft: fire claims, additional living expenses while you can’t live at home, and theft, where the 2000 specimen caps theft of jewelry, watches and furs at $1,500 per loss.
Covered doesn’t settle how much is paid
Whether a loss is covered and how it is paid are separate questions. The deductible comes off first, and some policies carry a separate wind, hail or hurricane deductible set as a percentage of the dwelling limit; the deductible calculator turns a percentage into dollars. The specimen settles buildings at replacement cost only if you carry at least 80% of the home’s full replacement cost, and until repairs are done it pays actual cash value (replacement cost minus depreciation), unless the repair costs less than both 5% of the building’s insurance and $2,500. To claim the rest after the work, you tell the insurer of your intent within 180 days after the date of loss. The actual cash value vs replacement cost calculator works through that arithmetic on your own numbers, and the payout section covers the rest.
A reading path
- Read how the policy is built, with your declarations page beside you: the summary page that lists your limits, deductibles and endorsements.
- Go to the page for your kind of damage, in this section or the peril sections above.
- Check the payout rules before you decide anything. Should you file a claim? sets out what a claim can do to your premium and claims history.
- If you go ahead, how to file a homeowners insurance claim walks through the steps.
Checking your own policy
Get the whole policy, not just the declarations page: the policy form, every endorsement and any state amendatory endorsement. The form number and edition sit at the foot of each page; HO 00 03 with a date is an edition of ISO’s HO-3. Read the exclusions and the endorsements together, since endorsements often change the exclusions. If the insurer says no, ask in writing which clause it relied on.
If you have damage now, some things can’t wait: photos before cleanup, reasonable steps to stop further damage (keep the receipts), and prompt written notice to your insurer. The specimen asks for a signed, sworn proof of loss within 60 days after the insurer asks for one and sets two years from the date of loss to sue; your policy and your state’s law can change both. Our claim deadlines by state show the state rules we have read. Your state insurance department’s consumer line can explain the rules for free; find it in the NAIC’s directory of state insurance departments.
Every rule on this page is taken from the guides linked above, which cite the clause or source at each claim. Sources checked on 8 November 2026: the ISO HO-3 specimen form (2000 edition, HO 00 03 10 00, and 2011 edition, HO 00 03 05 11) and the NAIC’s A Consumer’s Guide to Home Insurance (2022).
