All About Homeowner's Insurance

There are hundreds of different insurance companies, and virtually all of them offer some type of homeowner's insurance. Policy specifics do vary, but the basics are pretty much the same wherever you go.

To begin with, they all provide coverage for the following:

• Dwelling. This is your home plus its attached structures, fixtures, appliances, plumbing, heating, permanent air conditioners, and wiring.

• Other structures. This includes detached structures — garages, storage sheds, fences, driveways, patios, sidewalks, and retaining walls.

• Personal property. This includes the contents of your home and other personal items owned by you or family members who live with you.

• Loss of use. This provision covers your expenses if you can't live in your home while repairs are being made.

Protection from Peril

Homeowner's policies cover your property for some or all of the following 17 disasters:

• Fire or lightning

• Windstorm, including hurricanes and tornadoes, and hail

• Explosion

• Riot or civil commotion

• Damage caused by aircraft

• Damage caused by vehicles

• Smoke

• Vandalism or malicious mischief

• Theft

• Breakage of glass that is part of the building and damage caused by that breakage

• Volcanic eruption

• Falling objects

• Weight of ice, snow, or sleet

• Accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam from a plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, or automatic protective sprinkler system, or from a household appliance

• Sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of a steam or hot-water heating system, air-conditioning, or automatic fire-protective system

• Freezing of a plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, or automatic fire-protective sprinkler system, or of a household appliance

• Sudden and accidental damage from artificially generated electric current