Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Gazebo Damage?

Perhaps you decide to buy a gazebo for your backyard. You can use yours to entertain guests, not to mention spruce up an area that might need a little more curb appeal. The drawback is that gazebos will cost money both to buy and to maintain. You’ll therefore want to protect it from potential losses or damage that might occur at any time. Your homeowners insurance might aid in these cases, but only if you buy the right coverage.

Homeowners Insurance for Gazebos

Because a gazebo belongs to you and sits on your property, your homeowners insurance will likely cover it. Policies will cover property in and around your home if hazardous events damage it. They might pay for damage caused by fires, severe weather, vandalism, theft or other unexpected occurrences.

Most policies offer coverage for both the home itself (structure insurance) and separate coverage called other structures or detached structures insurance. Other structure coverage will apply to construction that is not part of your house. The policy might pay for damage to fencing, storage sheds, and of course gazebos.

What Your Policy Will Pay

Though most homeowners insurance includes coverage for gazebos, always check your specific policy. Each will contain unique terms that affect how much assistance it will provide.

The limit on your detached structure coverage will likely be a percentage of the limit on your main structure insurance. So, if you have $200,000 in structure insurance for the house, then your other structure limit might be 10% of that, or $20,000.
Your other structure coverage limit applies to all damage sustained in an accident. So, if your gazebo is one of several items damaged, then you will receive a maximum of $20,000 for all damage. You will not receive $20,000 for your gazebo, fence or other losses individually.
Policies will include deductibles. Your insurer will subtract the deductible from your final settlement cost. So, if you have a $500 deductible and the gazebo sustains $1,000 in damage, then your policy will pay $500 and you will cover the remaining $500. Damage totaling less than $500 will have no coverage.

The policy might exclude damage from certain hazards, such as floods. Additionally, it won’t cover damage to the gazebo that results from normal wear & tear.

If you have a very valuable gazebo, you can often choose to buy a special insurance rider to insure it. Under this rider, you can insure the gazebo specifically. This might remove some of the conditions set by the standard terms of your other structures coverage.

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