The half of the policy nobody reads
What your policy excludes
Almost every surprised claimant we meet was surprised by an exclusion rather than by a limit. Here are the ones that actually decide claims in this neighbourhood, and which of them can be bought back.
Flood is not in your homeowners policy. Flood is not in your homeowners policy and never has been. Every standard homeowners and renters form excludes it, and it is excluded whether or not you are in a mapped flood zone. Cover comes separately, from the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer, and the NFIP's standard waiting period is thirty days — which makes flood the one product where ringing us the week the forecast turns is already too late.
Insurance covers sudden accidental events. It does not cover things that were always going to happen, things you chose, or perils the market prices separately. That is not a trick; it is the definition of the product. But the specific list matters, because several items on it are things people reasonably assume are covered.
Three of the six below can be bought back for very little money. Two cannot be bought back at all under a standard form. One is not an exclusion so much as a boundary between two policies that nobody explained.
Flood — excluded, always, everywhere
Every standard homeowners, renters, condo and commercial property form in the United States excludes flood. It is excluded whether or not you are in a mapped zone. Cover comes only from the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer, and the NFIP's standard waiting period is thirty days.
This is the single most consequential thing most people do not know about their own policy, and the thirty-day wait means it cannot be fixed reactively. Parts of Maspeth near Newtown Creek and the Long Island City waterfront carry genuinely mapped risk; about a quarter of NFIP claims nationally arise outside high-risk zones.
Sewer and drain backup — excluded, and cheap to restore
Water coming back up through your own drains or sewer connection is excluded as standard. An endorsement restores it for roughly $60 to $220 a year depending on the limit.
In an area with this much finished basement and this much century-old cast iron waste plumbing it is the highest-value endorsement available, and it is the one most often missing from policies bought online. Note that backup and flood are different perils with different policies, and in one heavy storm you can suffer both in the same basement.
Wear, tear and deterioration — not restorable, and not a defect
A roof reaching the end of its life is not a peril. Neither is a boiler that has simply aged out, rot that developed over years, or a slow leak nobody noticed. Policies cover sudden accidental damage, and the distinction between a pipe that burst and a pipe that had been weeping for two years is the most common reason a water claim is declined.
What can be restored is the mechanical failure half: equipment breakdown cover, at around $25 to $60 a year, covers a boiler or a panel that fails from an internal fault rather than from age. That is a real and useful distinction and it is worth having, but it is not a maintenance contract and nobody should sell it as one.
Earth movement, business use, and the co-op line
Earth movement covers earthquake and also the settlement that shows up as a crack in a party wall. It is excluded as standard and, for most Queens houses, is not economically worth buying back.
Business use is excluded from both home and motor policies. A vehicle carrying tools to job sites, or a business run from a spare room, falls outside the personal policy — which is why home business endorsements and commercial auto exist.
And the co-op line, which is not really an exclusion at all. Where the building's policy stops and yours starts is set in your offering plan or bylaws rather than in any insurance document. In most Queens co-ops it stops at the bare walls, leaving your floors, fittings and contents on your side. That gap is filled by an HO-6 policy and it catches people constantly.
In order
How this works in practice
Flood
Excluded from every standard form. Restored only by a separate NFIP or private flood policy, with a thirty-day wait.
Sewer and drain backup
Excluded as standard. Restored by endorsement for roughly $60 to $220 a year. The best value on a Queens house.
Equipment breakdown
Mechanical and electrical failure of your own systems. Excluded as standard, restored for about $25 to $60 a year.
Service lines
The underground water, sewer and electrical runs from the street. Yours to repair, excluded as standard, restorable for $30 to $60.
Wear, tear and deterioration
Not a peril and not buyable. The distinction between a burst pipe and one that had been weeping for years decides most water claims.
Earth movement
Earthquake and settlement. Excluded as standard and rarely worth buying back in this housing stock.
Business use
Excluded from home and motor policies alike. Needs a home business endorsement or a commercial policy.
Questions we are actually asked
What your policy excludes — frequently asked
Does my homeowners policy cover flood?
No, and no standard policy anywhere does, regardless of your flood zone. Flood cover is a separate NFIP or private flood policy with its own thirty-day waiting period, which is why it cannot be arranged once a storm is forecast.
Is a basement backup the same as a flood?
No, and the distinction decides which policy pays. Backup is water returning through your own drains or sewer connection, covered by an endorsement on your home policy. Flood is surface water rising and entering the building, covered only by a flood policy. Both can happen in one storm.
My roof is leaking. Is that covered?
It depends on why. A roof damaged suddenly by a storm generally is; a roof that has reached the end of its life and is now letting water through generally is not, because wear and deterioration are not perils. That distinction is the most common reason a water claim is declined.
Why wasn't I told about these exclusions?
Usually because nobody sat down with the declarations page. All of them are in the policy, and none of them is hidden — but a policy is a long document and an exclusion only becomes visible when it matters. Reading them out is most of what a policy review is for, and it costs nothing here.
Read next
Related reading
Bring the declarations page and we will read it with you
Ask us what it would cost
Send or bring the summary pages of what you already have — those two sheets are where most of the useful conversation is. We will tell you what we would place it with and what that would cost, what we are paid for doing it, and whether you should move at all. Quite often the answer is that your current policy is priced fairly and you should keep it, and that is an answer we give in writing like any other.