(ms960) wrote in
oups.com:

responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/mainten...rance-Claim-us
e-it-to-repair-roof-632743-.htm ms960 wrote:
A little more details, for those who asked:



I had a "storm-chaser" company come out and do an assessment of the
roof, and claimed there was all kinds of hail damage to the roof.
They then met with the insurance adjuster. After which, the adjuster
denied there was hail damage anywhere to the house and flat out denied
my claim.

I then hired a respected company come out and perform their own
assessment, along with photos, estimates, and sketch-ups. I pressed
the issue with the insurance company, so they hired a structural
engineer to do a reassessment. The structural engineer meet with this
second company and found hail damage to the siding, but not the roof.
The insurance company paid the claim for the siding to be repaired,
but obviously nothing for the roof.

I really could care less about my siding. As I said, it's mostly
cosmetic, and my house has a brick front, so it's not very visible.
The roof, on the other hand, from everyone's assessments, is shot.
It's a 30- yr old roof and desperately in need of replacement, but
without any help from the insurance company, it's going to be
expensive.

So that's the impetus for my first question -- can I use the money
from the insurance company that was for the siding instead for the
roof? I've heard from a lot of people, here included, and there
doesn't seem to be a clear cut answer either way.

Thanks again!

As has been said here before, the money is yours now to be used as you
see fit. For the next claim on damage to your home, the insurance
company will look at what you did with the proceeds of this claim.

If your car gets rear-ended, and the insurance company pays for the
damage to the rear end of the car, you can use the money to buy a new
motorcycle. But if you get another accident with the car, say a
sidewswipe, the insurance company will see what you did with the previous
claim, and it will be a corrupt or stupid adjuster who says that the
sideswipe caused the damage to the rear of the car.

I think the insurance company is saying that you have a roof that's at
the end of its life. Normal maintenance requires replacement. There is
no hail damage of any consequence since the roof was shot before the
hail. Unless you make new dormers or otherwise remodel (when the new
roof would be an "improvement", taxwise), the new roof is an out of
pocket expense.

--
Best regards
Han
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