Total Pageviews

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

Thatched Roof Property Insurance Explained

Thatched homes are usually built in large tracts of land in the countryside and they look beautiful and elegant. Nowadays it has become a style to live in thatched roof houses. Thatched houses are very prone to fire and to repair or renovate them is very costly. Now special home insurances are available for thatched houses to cover both the loss and to rebuild it again. The thatched house owner knows that to get a standard insurance provider who will insure the property is very difficult, especially to get a reasonable quote for his policy. The reason is thatched roof are very risky, so you should find an insurance company which specializes in insuring thatched roof properties as the regular home insurance companies do not issue policies for the same.
Most Insurance Companies that deal with thatched roof properties offer their advice on fire and damage prevention and also offer discounts if precaution like an approved fire retardant coatings are used. You must find out yourself what kind of facilities the home insurance offers. The insurance companies have a difficult time accessing the property because of the non standard style of construction, age of the property and moreover the increased inflammability of the thatched roof.
Thatched roof's premium is more expensive because they can catch fire easily and the full roof can get damaged. The thatched roof is listed in the building which means that in case of damage by fire they have to be rebuilt just like how it was before. This comes costly because you have to hire the same craftsmen and traditional materials have to be used.
Here are a few tips as how to minimize the risk of fire in thatched properties and reduce the cost of insurance premium:
First of all the causes of fire in thatched roof cottages occur because the chimney is not maintained well - The chimney should be swept and cleaned regularly so that the soot is not accumulated. A qualified professional surveyor should be called regularly to inspect the brickwork lining. In case you find some damage then it is very necessary to do the relining. You should also take professional advice to make sure that there is sufficient gap between the chimney stack and the ridge line
Another thing you should always do is to make sure that the wooden stoves are fitted efficiently in a proper way. Install smoke detectors in all rooms including the roof. Put a chimney alarm though it is very costly to reduce your home insurance premium. The risk of fire will be lessened if you put up a spark arrestor so that it can control the sparks that fly of the chimney. For further information and advice the best person to give you the right information is the agent or broker of a property insurance company.
We hope this article on property insurance on thatched roofs was of some importance and knowledge to you as the same was with us when we penned it down.

No comments:

Post a Comment