Is Damage from Raccoons Covered by Insurance

The answer is probably “No”, for most people. I do know that for my own insurance company. They would not pay for damage from raccoons done to our home by raccoons getting into our attic.  We had them in for about 2 months and they damaged the soffit as well as it cost me $600 to have someone come over and install heavy gauge wire mesh over all of the openings to ensure that they could not get back in. This company also installed a trap door so they could get out of our attic but not back in.

Once they were out of the attic, they removed the trap door and covered the opening with the wire mesh so they could not get back in. Fortunately, they did not do the damage shown here in this picture.  Damage from Raccoons can be much more significant than just spending $600. You can just imagine what the inside of the attic looks like.

Home Insurance – Damage from Raccoons

The home insurance we have is pretty good. We have had other claims for water damage and they were excellent, however, damage done by raccoons and the cost to block them from doing more damage is not covered and they do not provide any kind of coverage where wild animals are involved. I was a little upset, but at least it was only $600 to have the repairs completed and the wire mesh installed. I spoke to one of the supervisors from my insurance company and they point to a specific clause that had been there all of the time, which I had not seen or read. Sure enough, it was there and they do not cover damages done by raccoons or other wild animals such as squirrels, etc.

Check your Insurance Coverage for Damages done by Raccoons

So check your own insurance coverage for your home to see if damage by raccoons is excluded or not. Either way, you must get them out of your attic and you must stop them from coming back. Even if the den is vacant another family of raccoons will just move in. So killing the raccoons or trapping them and taking them far away just does not work. It also might be illegal in your city or town as well, depending on the bylaws. It is illegal in our city. Do not procrastinate, the damage they do will just get worse.

Why Use Heavy Gauge Wire Mesh

You cannot prevent all the raccoons in your area from trying to get into your home. There are a lot of them almost everywhere and once they can smell a den, they can tell if it is occupied or vacant and they know it is home, even though it is your home. Killing them one by one or trapping them one by one will be a never-ending job. There are more of them than you can trap and they will come back year after year.

Using the wire mesh will prevent them from actually getting into your home. They will try. We have seen tracks in the snow on our roof since we installed this heavy gauge wire mesh. But they cannot get into our attic anymore! Unfortunately, most insurance companies will not cover this solution or the damage that the raccoons cause. You need to make sure they cannot get back into your home to limit the damage they can do.

Please refer to some of our other posts to read more about the process of using and installing wire mesh. If you do it at the wrong time you risk more damage and a lot more frustration, which again the damage from the raccoons is not covered by your insurance company. For example, if the young pups are left inside the adults will literally take your roof apart trying to rescue their young. You may have to wait until they are old enough to travel before installing this one-way trap door.

Comments are welcome! For lots more information about damage from raccoons and how to deal with it, click here.

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