The "attached to house" seems to be the magic phrase. I live on the beach
here in Fla and when Opal came through here in Oct '95 it tore up this area.
Fortunately my KT34A and hazer were down and the tower guyed with ropes
and they survived ok but other outside things like signs, outbuildings, and
trees were destroyed and were not covered under Fla's notorious windstorm
insurance-but one small tool shed "attached to the house" was destroyed
and covered-no questions.
Bill W5EC
At 10:19 AM 7/23/97 -0400, you wrote:
>I have always used an unguyed, crank up tower, bracketed near the top of the
>bottom section to the house. I have never suffered any losses due to weather
>damage. Recently, however, I moved to Cape Cod, not exactly unknown for it's
>hostile environment during hurricane and winter northeaster seasons and
>erected the same tower configuration. Needless to say, during a typical
>December Northeaster, I finally lost, or at least suffered some damage, to
>the rotor and several antennas. The tower came through just fine.
>
>I contacted my home owner's insurance company (Commercial Union) and found
>that if the tower is attached to the house (in this case the Rohn house
>bracket sufficed), it was considered part of the house for insurance
>purposes. There was no squawk at all about covering the claim. That was 2
>years ago. Last year I had a break-in at a storage unit I rent and I again
>had a claim to file with the insurance company. Those are the only 2 claims
>ever filed in 16 years with the same company (2 different qth's) and they
>totalled to a little over quadruple the deductible I've always carried
>($250). I shudder to think of what I've paid into that company for the last
>16 years.
>
>My home owner's policy is now up for renewal and to my surprise I received a
>letter from the insurance company telling me that they were doublling my
>deductible because of my recent claim history. It looks like a claim
>totalling somewhere around 4 times the deductible, anywhere in your history
>with the company, is cause for them to double your deductible the next time
>around. I guess the object is to keep raising your deductible until you can't
>receive any compensation for claims.
>
>So the word of advice is, if you can manage to mechanically tie your tower to
>your house, I think you'll find it's covered the same way as any part of your
>house or contents by your homeowner's policy. However, do check with your
>agent to make sure that your company does not have any peculiar exceptions
>(like towers or antennas) and also be sure to find out what happens to your
>deductible as a function of the size of any claims filed. By the way, this
>changes from year to year depending upon how edgy the insurance company is
>about forecasted conditions for your area. The weather gurus are talking
>(just talking mind you) about maybe a more severe hurricane season this year
>- sun spots, you know. My insurance broker told me that some companies
>covering homes on the Cape have already refused to write any new policies,
>one has completely pulled out of the Cape Cod market, and the rest are all
>carefully reviewing past claims and deductibles. So, it's not just my company
>who no longer seems to be in the risk insurance business! In fact, it appears
>that the word risk in the insurance business has been redefined to mean
>shareholder's risk, not the policy holder's. We're just there to insure the
>stockholders from capital gains loss! No wonder the DJ average is soaring!
>
>73 de K1PDX, Saul
>sdinman@aol.com
>
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>
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