MINNEAPOLIS — This winter has been hard on homes.
Twin Cities insurance agents say they've been getting a lot of calls about claims related to winter weather.
Natalie Lyon, a Farmers Insurance agency owner in Minneapolis, says it started with the brutal cold snap earlier this month.
"When it got frigid cold, we got a lot of calls with busted water pipes and damages from that," she said.
While Lyon says damage from a burst pipe is covered by most homeowners policies, the broken plumbing itself might not be.
She says you can buy some policies that cover replacing that, too.
So, what about ice dams? Lyon says most homeowners policies do not cover removing them, unless they're causing damage to your home.
"So, if I had an ice dam on, say, the whole front side of my house, the spot that maybe I'm having damage inside my home is leaking in, that's going to be covered and (so is) removing the dam in that area, but homeowners insurance isn't going to cover (the removal of) the entire ice dam," Lyon said.
But bigger problems for homeowners might come this spring, when the snow melts.
"Flood insurance is something that's not a mandatory coverage, so it's not a coverage that a lot of people talk about, a lot of people opt in to buying," Lyon said.
She says If you want it, you should get it before the melt begins, because there's a 30-day waiting period before coverage kicks in.