Which Standard Homeowners Policy Exclusions Apply?
Flood, earthquake, and routine wear and tear are the big ones. Check your declarations page for the full list your insurer applies.
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What your policy won't pay for
A standard policy covers sudden, accidental damage, like a pipe bursting or a tree falling on the roof. It won't cover flood water coming in from outside, which needs a separate flood policy, often through the National Flood Insurance Program. Earthquake and earth movement are usually excluded too, and so is damage from neglect, like a roof that rotted because it needed repair for years. Mold from long-term leaks, pest infestation, and sewer backup often need an endorsement added to the policy rather than coming included. Before closing, ask what the home's specific risks are. If the house is near a floodplain or in an area with known foundation issues, find out now what the base policy leaves out, since adding coverage later costs more to arrange in a hurry.
Know the gaps before you bind the policy
Insurers price the same exclusions differently, and some offer sewer backup or flood endorsements the others don't. Comparing before closing shows which policy actually covers the risks your new house has.
What to do if the house has a gap you need covered
If the inspection or a flood map search turns up a risk the standard policy excludes, there are usually two paths. One is an endorsement added to the same policy, which is common for sewer backup, water backup from a sump pump failure, or sometimes mold from a covered loss. The other is a separate policy entirely, which is how flood and earthquake coverage almost always work. A lender near a mapped floodplain will often require the flood policy outright before closing, so this is not always optional even if it feels like an add-on.
Ask for the quote with the endorsement included, not as a separate conversation after the policy is bound. Insurers can usually add sewer backup or water backup coverage for a set amount more a year, and seeing that number next to the base premium lets you compare what you're actually getting for the price. A policy that looks cheaper without the endorsement may cost more once it matches the coverage of one that includes it.
Older homes carry exclusions that newer construction doesn't run into as often. Galvanized or polybutylene plumbing, knob-and-tube wiring, and aging roofs can all affect what an insurer will cover or whether they'll write the policy at all without repairs first. Some insurers ask for a four-point inspection covering the roof, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC before they'll bind coverage on a home over a certain age. If the house you're buying is older, ask early whether any of these apply, since finding out at closing leaves no time to fix it.
None of this shows up by asking an insurer what they exclude in general. It shows up by naming the actual house. A home on a slab in a wildfire-prone area, a house with a 30-year-old roof, a property backing up to a creek, each of these needs a specific answer about what's covered and what isn't. Getting that answer before signing, rather than after a claim is denied, is the whole reason to compare policies instead of accepting the first one quoted.
How do exclusions differ between an older house and a new build?
A new build and a fifty-year-old house can get very different answers to the same question, even from the same insurer. New construction usually comes with a new roof, modern wiring, and plumbing that meets current code, so the exclusions that trip up older homes rarely come into play in the first few years. Insurers often price new homes lower for exactly this reason. The systems most likely to fail, and most likely to be excluded from coverage once they do, are the ones that haven't aged yet.
An older house carries more of its history into the policy. A roof nearing the end of its expected life might still be covered if it fails suddenly from wind or hail, but gradual leaks from age and wear fall under the wear-and-tear exclusion every standard policy has. Plumbing works the same way. A pipe that bursts is a covered loss. A slow leak behind a wall that sat there for years before anyone noticed gets treated as a maintenance issue, not an accident, and maintenance issues are the homeowner's responsibility, not the policy's.
Some insurers ask about the age of the roof, the plumbing material, and the electrical panel before they'll even quote an older home. Knob-and-tube wiring and galvanized or polybutylene pipes get flagged often enough that some insurers won't bind a policy until they're replaced or inspected. Others will write the policy but exclude claims tied to that specific system until it's updated. Either way, this is worth learning before closing, not after an inspection report turns up findings nobody budgeted for.
The practical move is to ask directly, for this house, what its age means for coverage. A seller's disclosure or the home inspection usually lists how old the roof, water heater, and panel are. Bringing those dates to an insurer before binding the policy gets a straight answer about what's covered as-is and what might need repair first. Skipping this step doesn't make the exclusion go away. It just means finding out the hard way, after something fails and the claim comes back denied.
Before you bind the policy
Pull the inspection report and check the roof age, plumbing material, and panel type against what the insurer asked about. If the house sits near a floodplain, confirm whether the lender requires a separate flood policy before closing.
