Having the unique property of expanding while freezing, water puts a tremendous amount of pressure on whatever is containing it, including the metal and plastic piping found in your home.

While frozen and burst pipes can occur anywhere, some pipes are more prone to freezing than others due to their location.  Pipes that are located outside or that run against exterior walls that contain little or no insulation are at high risk of freezing during prolonged cold weather as well as those that are located in unheated interior areas of the home such as basements, crawl spaces, attics, garages, and under kitchen cabinets.

In order to help mitigate the chance of frozen or burst pipes, here are some helpful tips and tricks that you can try at home:

• Keep your garage doors closed as much as possible
• Open kitchen and bathroom cabinets in order to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing
• Use rigid foam insulation to close and seal all foundation vents that are near water pipes
• Wrap high-risk pipes with pipe insulation which is widely available at your local hardware store
• When an especially cold spell is expected, let the cold water drip from the faucet farthest from your main water intake valve.  Running even a small amount of water through the pipes helps prevent freezing and can also help you detect a frozen pipe if the flow of water changes (the first sign of a freezing pipe is reduced water flow).
• Make sure to keep your heat on, even when you are not home.  Setting your thermostat no lower than 13°C/55°F helps protect against frozen pipes.

If you happen to find yourself with a frozen pipe, here are some methods to help thaw out the affected area:

• Apply constant heat to the affected area that is closest to the faucet using a good hair dryer or an electric heating pad.  Do not leave the pipe unattended while you attempt to defrost it using one of these tools.
  *Do not use a blowtorch or any other open-flame device to defrost a pipe.
• Keep faucets open.  As you defrost the frozen area and the water begins to melt, it will begin to flow through the pipe helping melt ice in the affected area.
• If you are unable to locate the pipe that is frozen, contact a licensed plumber.

If the worst occurs and a pipe bursts in your home, shut off the water at the main valve, call your plumber, and contact your insurance broker.

In terms of your homeowners insurance coverage, losses during the normal heating season relating to frozen pipes that are located within a heated portion of the dwelling hold insurance protection provided that you have not been away from your premises for more than 96 consecutive hours.  If you are planning on a trip, please be sure to take at least one of the following precautions in order to ensure that your coverage remains in place:

• Shut off the water supply to the home and drain water from all systems and appliances: and/or
• Arrange for a competent person to enter your dwelling daily in order to ensure that heat is being maintained.

We here at Cade hope you (and your home) stay nice and warm during this chilly time!  As always, if you have any questions regarding frozen pipes or the coverages provided by your habitational insurance policy, please feel free to contact us.

The post Freezing Pipes: Keep your home warm during cold snaps appeared first on Cade Associates Insurance Brokers Limited.

In the wake of the July 2013 rains and subsequent water damage, we have witnessed significant talk of change throughout various government agencies and in the insurance industry as a whole.  With a record-breaking $3.2 billion in claim payouts related to severe weather events in 2013 alone, it is certainly understandable that insurers in Canada would invest a significant amount of time into reviewing changing weather patterns and the frequency and severity of related claims.  Unfortunately, we are beginning to witness such events of significance which once took place every 40 years now every 4-6 years, and the insurers are responding with new limitations and exclusions specifically with respect to water.

Throughout 2014, most Insurers have introduced various changes or made clarification to their residential property policy wordings including: lower limits available for damage by sewer back up; higher deductibles for water damage; reduced discounting with respect to claims; new geographical territory definitions.

As we all know, water is an unwelcome and costly visitor to your home.  In recognition of this, the City of Toronto has introduced a subsidy program to assist the owners of single-family, duplex, and triplex residential homes with a financial subsidy of up to $3,400 per property to install sewer backup mitigation devices such as a backwater valve, a sump pump, and pipe severance and capping of the home’s storm sewer or external weeping tile connection.

For further information on the City of Toronto’s Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program, please visit the following page:

https://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=30ee7c6a9967f310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=f041ffa6ee33f310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

Whether this program applies to you or not, we here at Cade would like to respectfully encourage you to consider mitigation measures for water losses.  If you would like to discuss some of the benefits or the insurance implications of such installations, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

The post Toronto Homeowners: Take advantage of Toronto’s Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program and help protect yourself against sewer backup losses! appeared first on Cade Associates Insurance Brokers Limited.