Home Insurance Experience – Weather Damage, Need Advice/Help

Hi Houston,

New homeowner here of a few years and need some help/advice. Think this goes back to the tornado and/or hurricane we had last year. Live in a home in the inner-loop that has an exposed roof deck with a bedroom under it.

We saw some water coming in a bit through the drywall and corner of the room once or twice since about June or July, and knew we would have to get this looked at. No particular rhyme or reason – sometimes it poured, and no water. Other times sideways rain and there was water.

Finally had a contractor come and cut open the ceiling and wall from the inside as I was having a recent leak. Contractor thinks that from the strong winds, the 25+ cemented posts holding the glass railing around the roof deck caused them to get loose (you can see and feel it loose in the spots where the ceiling was cut open) and there was rotting/water damage down the entire plywood and top plates that support the roof deck.

I had a few neighbors have significant damage with the glass falling off, pergolas collapsing (mine doesn't have one, just open), and windows flying out in similar homes and both of them mentioned "getting screwed" by insurance. Don't know specifics and nobody really wants to talk about it, but sounded like "improper install" and crap like that were the excuses. Which I don't understand bc if you have a pergola collapse and it leaves 4 holes in your bedroom, of course it will cause both exterior and interior damage, and its clearly a weather related event. In my case, its not even that – water is just leaking from those post points.

I know I'm going to probably have to foot a 60-100k bill for repairs on a house that is like 550k based on what my neighbors have told me. This is frustrating cuz that's literally a good downpayment on a home around here. Some of the work would include redoing the entire roof deck, its very large like 20 ft x 20 ft, exterior repairs to the panels, etc, plus fixing the inside. Isn't the point of home insurance, to help with things like this – severe damage due to weather events? I haven't filed any claims yet nor called my insurance, and sounds like my deductible would be like 12ish K (if they covered me) for wind/hail damage. Of course it would be preferable to have that as my out of pocket max. Only thing out of pocket now was what I paid my contractor for the demo.

EDIT 1: The only thing I will add is – when I asked my neighbors what company they have, they both told me names I never heard of. I am with one of the big guys (Allstate / State Farm / Progressive). Don't want to be overly specific but DM me if anything.

EDIT 2: My contractor helped one of my neighbors and is the one that recommend "I might want to try with insurance, I have nothing to lose" as he mentioned the costs would be pretty high (no details).

• Does anyone have experience they could share?
• If they deny me after making a claim, will my insurance still go up anyways? Will they drop me? My renewal will be in December.
• If I file a claim, and whether they cover me or not – does this "history" carry with me if I sell the house and buy something new? If yes, would it impact me if I let's say move to Dallas in a few years?
• My wife is pregnant and we probably will want to sell the house in 1-2 years. How problematic would an insurance claim be here?

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate your help and advice.