Most policies have two numbers for mold. Only one of them pays for your home.
Mold is the one coverage almost every Florida homeowner misreads. The limit is smaller than people think, the testing comes out of it, and the wrong move in the first hour can spread the problem into rooms that were never affected. The photograph above is what a mold job should look like — contained, filtered, and the rest of the house left alone.
Mold: two numbers, and only one pays for the remediation
Mold coverage on a Florida homeowners policy is usually written as a pair of numbers. On a declarations page it might read $10,000/$50,000, or $10,000/$25,000, or $25,000/$50,000, or $50,000/$50,000. Those are examples and the first figure moves around, though the second is usually $50,000.
The first number is the damage limit. That’s what the policy will pay to deal with mold in your own dwelling. The second is the liability limit, and it covers claims somebody else makes against you. Most of the policies I see carry a $10,000 damage limit, and that’s the number that matters most when you have a mold loss from a covered peril.
What the limit covers:
- Removing the mold itself.
- Protecting the parts of the house that are clean.
- Protective equipment for the people doing the work.
- The machines, setting them up, taking them down, cleaning them afterwards.
- Cutting out and hauling away the damaged materials.
- The testing.
Find out what your limit is before you need it
- Coverage varies more than people realize. Some policies carry the mold limit built in. Some don’t provide mold coverage at all. With others it’s an endorsement.
- A higher mold damage limit is generally available, and for a nominal addition to your premium. Contact your agent to inquire.
- Negative air machines and dehumidifiers running in two rooms can consume a $10,000 limit on their own.
Before you touch it
The instinct after a water leak is to clean up the mess. If there’s mold in it, that instinct will cost you — it spreads what you’re trying to remove, and it puts you in contact with something that can make you ill. This is the part of a claim where doing nothing is the skilled response.
- Contact your insurance company immediately to discuss the dryout procedures.
- Don’t touch it, wipe it, or clean it.
- Never run air movers where mold is present.
- Containment, negative air machines with HEPA filtration, and dehumidifiers are the proper remediation supplies and machines. No air movers.
- Throw nothing out, and leave everything as it is until the insurance adjuster has inspected the loss.
The testing, out of your limit and not on top of it
Most homeowners assume testing is something the insurance company pays for on top of everything else. It’s not. Testing sits inside the same limit as the remediation, which means every dollar spent proving the mold is there is a dollar no longer available to remove it.
If you test before the work, you need a clearance test after it — that’s what tells you the job was actually remediated of mold and cleared. Two tests, both out of your limit.
- Read the mold endorsement before you hire anyone.
- Budget for pre test and clearance test from the start. Two tests, not one.
- Send your insurance company the pricing and ask in writing. Before the work, not after.
- They have a time limit to answer, and your policy states it. Some say forty-eight hours, some say seventy-two. If they neither approve nor deny within that time, you may proceed — but you have to have asked.
- You can hire your own testing company. Understand that it makes no difference to the money either way — whoever does the testing, the cost comes out of the same limit. Some policies cap what they will pay for testing separately from the rest of the limit. Some don’t. You need to know which one you have before you spend a dollar.
- Ask for a swab test of the worst area. Swab sampling of the most affected material gives the best result. Ask for it by name rather than accepting whatever is offered.
The protocol
A mold remediation protocol is written by the testing company you hire, through a mold assessor licensed by the DBPR. It states what has to come out, how far past the visible growth the removal goes, how the area is contained, and what has to be completed, all confirmed in the clearance test.
A remediation contractor who ignores the protocol can be liable for the damage that follows, and the homeowner is the one living with the result.
The company that tests should never be the company that remediates. And they shouldn’t be affiliated with each other either.
Testing and remediation are separately licensed in Florida for a reason. The company writing the protocol decides how much work there is. The company doing the work gets paid for it. Put those in the same hands, or in the hands of two businesses that share an interest, and the conflict is obvious — and the clearance test at the end is being graded by somebody with a stake in it passing.
What to look for in your policy
Mold isn’t a covered loss in and of itself. It’s an endorsement which gives you limited coverage on a covered loss. Get your policy and review the items listed below.
- The first of the two mold numbers on your declarations page. That’s the damage limit, and it’s the one that matters.
- Look in your endorsements for the mold special limits coverage.
- The endorsement itself — “Fungi”, Mold, Wet or Dry Rot, or Bacteria.
- What that endorsement puts inside the limit, and what it leaves outside it.
- Whether testing is capped separately from the rest of the limit, and the deadline for a written request to exceed it. The testing.
- Is the home livable? If not, find your Additional Living Expense coverage on the declarations page and check the limit and its time limitations.
- The endorsement titled Special Provisions — Florida. It can change coverages in your policy.
- Yearly renewals often change coverages in previous policies. Review all endorsement changes yearly.
After a mold loss: Dos and Don’ts
Dos
- Photograph and video everything before anything is touched. Overview shots that establish where you are, then close-ups. Every affected room and the source if you can see it.
- Find the first of the two mold numbers on your declarations page. That’s what the whole job has to fit inside, and it’s smaller than people expect.
- Contain it and filter it. Negative air machines with HEPA filtration and dehumidifiers. That’s the equipment for a house with mold in it.
- Read the mold endorsement before you hire anyone. What your policy allows for testing may not be what other policies allow.
- Send your testing company’s pricing to your insurance company and ask in writing before the work. Approval obtained afterwards isn’t approval.
- Budget for the clearance test from the start. Two tests, not one, and both come out of the same limit.
- Ask both companies whether they have any relationship with each other. It’s a fair question and the answer should be an easy no.
- Keep dated notes of what surfaces later. Smells that come back, growth that reappears, rooms that were fine and now aren’t.
Don’ts
- Don’t touch it, wipe it, or clean it. Every pass of a cloth or a mop moves spores somewhere they weren’t.
- Never run air movers where mold is present. This is the mistake that does the most damage — it takes what’s on the material and distributes it through rooms that had nothing wrong with them.
- Don’t let the same company test and remediate. The one writing the protocol decides how much work there is. The one doing the work gets paid for it.
- Don’t let a contractor start without the protocol in hand where one was requested. They may go above what it calls for. They may not do less.
- Don’t spend a dollar on testing before you’ve asked in writing. Costs they never authorized generally aren’t payable.
- Don’t assume build-back comes out of the mold limit. Putting the dwelling back together is generally Coverage A work.
This isn’t everything. Your policy carries conditions and duties that apply after a loss, and they’re yours to meet whether or not they appear here. Read your own policy in full. If something in it doesn’t make sense, call me — it’s a twenty-minute phone call about the loss, whether or not you hire me.
These are the ones specific to this kind of loss. Select the link for the Dos and Don’ts that apply to every claim.
The call that matters
If you have found mold, call or email me before anyone starts work. It’s a twenty-minute phone call about the loss, and I’ll tell you what you’re dealing with and what has to be documented before a single thing is touched.
You stay in control of your claim. That’s the whole point.