"v" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 15:25:19 -0500, someone wrote:
....I would like to purchase a
pressure washer to clean my home.

No way will they pay for a purchase. If its considered covered
damage, they will pay for the work or the rental of the equipment but
not pay for equipment for you to keep. The general opportunities to
take advantage are obvious - so there is a general practice even if
you claim that in some specific case it would be cheaper, etc.

You could probably rent one, but I'd still be concerned with this
being borderline, cleaning vs. clean-up, cleaning of dirt vs. repair
of damage. If its approved by the company as "damage" you could hire
someone to do it - yeah even if that would cost more than buying
yourself a pressure washer.

For the most part you are incorrect. Insurance companies don't pay based on
the cost insured for work. In this case, they will asses the damage (via
personal inspection or estimate submitted) and pay based on this amount. A
check will be issued and the person can then have the work done however they
want.

If the person wants to take the money paid, buy a pressure washer and do the
work themselves, this is fine. The person would either be saving money by
doing it themselves (thereby paying themselves for there labor = equal deal)
or loose a little money in incurring the expense for a pressure washer (but
obtain a pressure washer in trade).

An insurance company could care less how the money is spent. There
obligation is to issue payment. It's the homeowners responsibility to make
sure those funds are used for repairs and in the OP's case, they would be.

What the carrier _won't_ pay for, and what you may have meant, is
_preventative maintainance_ (such as Gordon mentions... but boarding up your
come is not covered under a standard property policy). The difference in the
OP's situation is that the "damage" has already been done. So it's no longer
preventative.