Palm Beach County, FL

What floods houses here, and what the policy answers for.

Hurricane is what floods houses here, and that water is outside the homeowners policy.

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Palm Beach County, measured

Homes in the flood zone

8.2%

Most of them carry separate flood cover. A homeowners policy never does.

Of those, insured

43.5%

Flood cover is bought separately through NFIP and starts thirty days after you buy it.

July dew point

75°F

Open windows bring water in rather than out. Drying here is equipment, not air.

Days at or below 20°F

Frozen pipes are not the local story. Supply lines and appliances are.

Median year built

1986

Homes of this vintage may carry polybutylene supply, which fails along the pipe itself.

Drywall cut away in a straight line above the water line, bare studs and wet insulation below — What soaked and cannot be dried through is cut out rather than dried. The height of the cut is decided by readings, not by how the wall looks.

The line most owners find out about too late

A homeowners policy answers for water that escapes suddenly and accidentally inside the house — a pipe, a hose, a water heater, an overflow. It does not answer for water that rises from outside, anywhere in the country. That is flood, it is bought separately through NFIP, and cover starts thirty days after you buy it.

It also does not answer for a leak that has been weeping behind a wall for a year. That is a gradual loss, and the mold that came with it is excluded on the same ground.

(888) 217-5329 Call a contractor

Connects you with an independent contractor about new work. Calls may be recorded.

What floods houses here, and what the policy answers for.

Palm Beach County, measured

The line most owners find out about too late

Towns in Palm Beach County