Is Chimney Repair Covered by Homeowners Insurance in Albany?

Sudden damage versus slow wear

Coverage for a chimney turns on one question: did something happen to it, or did it wear out? New York's Department of Financial Services describes the basic homeowners form, HO-1, as insuring a home against a list of named perils, and that list includes fire, lightning and smoke damage, windstorm and hail. The special form, HO-3, covers all risks of physical loss except those the policy specifically excludes. Either way, chimney damage from a sudden event that the policy names, or does not exclude, starts on the covered side of the line.

The exclusions are just as clear. The department's consumer FAQ lists wear and tear among standard exclusions, alongside flood, earth movement and acts of war, and the Insurance Information Institute says a standard policy will not pay for routine wear and tear. One large insurer's consumer page puts it practically: ordinary wear is the owner's responsibility, so a policy should not be counted on for basic repairs. A chimney that slowly loses mortar, sheds brick or lets its crown crack open over several winters is, in insurance terms, wearing out rather than suffering a loss.

Chimney losses that are usually covered

Consumer guides and the chimney industry agree on a short list of events that are normally covered, though the policy itself always decides. The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) says most chimney fire damage is considered a covered loss, and an online insurance marketplace's guide adds lightning, a falling tree and, more cautiously, a chimney that collapses under the weight of sleet, ice or snow.

Collapse deserves attention in Albany, where National Weather Service normals put average snowfall at 59.2 inches a year, but it is also the item the guides hedge on, and an adjuster may ask whether the masonry was sound before the snow arrived. The events most often described as covered:

• A chimney fire that cracks flue tiles or splits the masonry.
• A lightning strike that blows apart the crown or the top courses of brick.
• Wind or hail that topples the stack or tears off its cap, both named perils on the basic form New York's regulator describes.
• A tree or heavy limb that falls onto the chimney.
• Collapse under ice and snow, described as possibly covered rather than routinely covered.

Why most Albany chimney damage counts as wear

Most chimney trouble in Albany is not sudden. Working from National Weather Service normals, Albany sees a freezing low on 135.7 days in an average year, yet the high stays under freezing on only 41.1 of them, so on roughly 95 days the temperature crosses 32 degrees F. Each crossing lets water in a joint or crack freeze and thaw again, and the freeze-thaw figures for Albany show how steadily that works on masonry. The damage builds slowly: sandy joints, spalled brick faces, a crown that crazes and then splits.

The housing stock adds to it. Census figures show 42.9 percent of the city's housing was built before 1940, and many of those chimneys were laid in soft brick and lime mortar that is meant to weather and be renewed. The marketplace guide says chimneys damaged by age or normal wear and tear would not be covered, nor would damage that develops through neglect or improper care. So a leak traced to worn flashing, open joints or a cracked crown is normally budgeted as upkeep, and chimney leak repair for that kind of problem is usually the owner's expense. A sudden event on top of old wear can still be a claim; documentation is what sorts the two apart.

How to document chimney damage for a claim

New York's insurance regulator sets out the order. After a loss, the first step is to notify the insurance company or agent promptly, then follow up in writing and keep copies of all correspondence. The owner is expected to protect the property from further damage and save receipts for every temporary fix, while holding off on permanent repairs until the company or its representative has inspected. A photo or video record belongs in the file from the start.

• Photograph the chimney from the ground and from any upper window before anything is moved, including fallen brick on the roof, yard or driveway.
• Photograph interior stains, cracked plaster and the firebox, and write down the date of the storm or fire.
• Keep the fireplace and any appliance venting into that flue out of use until a chimney professional has swept and evaluated it, as CSIA advises after a chimney fire.
• Save receipts for temporary measures that keep water out until the adjuster visits.
• On a rowhouse with a shared party-wall chimney, tell the neighbor early, since two owners and two policies may be involved.
• Keep any earlier inspection report or repair invoice with the claim, because it shows the chimney's condition before the event.

What a Level 2 inspection report adds

Photos from the yard show that something happened; an inspection report shows what it did. Under the inspection levels in NFPA 211, the national chimney standard, a Level 2 inspection is required after an operating malfunction or an external event likely to have damaged the chimney, and CSIA's procedure names weather events and chimney fires among the triggers. It covers a Level 1's scope plus the accessible attic, crawl space and basement. After a chimney fire, CSIA describes a sweep and then a video inspection, with a camera on sweep rods checking the flue tiles for cracks and the mortar joints at the same time.

That record lets an adjuster separate the event from the background. CSIA notes that a flue fire can leave joint failure, metal fatigue or structural cracking, damage unlike decades of weathering on the outside, and suggests asking the sweep to photograph damaged sections and any creosote, then keeping copies. The stakes are local: Census counts put 1,339 Albany County homes heating mainly with wood and 9,086 with fuel oil, and those flues carry heat all winter. Booking a Level 2 chimney inspection soon after the event also settles the safety question before the next fire.

Read the policy, then ask the agent

No article or contractor can say whether a particular claim will be paid. The Department of Financial Services tells consumers to check their own policy for the complete list of covered and excluded perils. Useful questions for an agent are concrete: is this an open-perils or a named-perils form, does it address collapse, how does the deductible apply, how is a storm handled when it hits masonry that was already worn, and what does the company want to see from a chimney inspection?

Once the insurer has inspected, or once it is clear the job is ordinary upkeep, the repair becomes a masonry question: what failed, what caused it, and what will keep water out next winter. Owners looking for chimney repair help in Albany can describe the chimney and have the request go to an independent local contractor, whether or not a claim is involved.

More from the blog

• The 3-2-10 Rule: How Tall an Albany Chimney Has to Be
• Sealer, Recast or Precast Cap: Repairing a Cracked Chimney Crown in Albany
• When to Schedule Chimney Repair in Albany: Mortar, Frost and the Burn Season