Does homeowners insurance cover personal photographs that have been damaged by water?
I know it depends on the policy. We had a burst water pipe due to a freeze. Everything has been covered thusfar. I'm just not sure how to put a value on my personal photographs. I had lots and the negatives were with the photographs.
Update:The claim is already being covered by State Farm. The home is in the state of Maine. The home is heated by radiant heating in the floor. There was no interruption of the heat. The copper pipe was on the outside kitchen wall behind the dishwasher. We are not having any problems whatsoever with claim coverage. I just wondered if anyone knew about the photo issue. Thank you for your answers.
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Yes, but for the ACTUAL value, not the sentimental value.
What would someone pay for those photos on Ebay? Probably not much. They're effectively worthless, sorry.
I have no idea how water would damage the negatives, though. If they're ok, the insurance should pay to reprint the photos.
You would only be reimbursed for the material itself, not the cost to actually replace those photographs. Depending on your company, they might work with you on cleaning and trying to refurbish the photos, but that is very rare (high value home companies like Chubb, Firemans Fund, etc.).
Are you sure that the claim itself is covered? Pipes bursting due to freezing is a tricky area for coverage. Was the heat on in the house? Obviously, the pipes had not been drained. We have had an odd year for weather, so you might get some leeway.
Almost all policies include provisions concerning pipes bursting due to freezing; either you keep the heat on or you winterize. Failure to do one of these could be cause for a denial of coverage.
Good Luck.
Even if your policy does, only the cost of the film will be covered - not the sentimental value. So the actual value would be about 20 cents per shot ($4 per roll divided by 24 shots per roll).