Georgian, Victorian, Colonial Revival … whatever its age or architectural style, you don’t just own an old house. You have one of Georgia’s historic homes, and you’re rightfully proud of it.
But are you doing all you can to protect your vintage house? Have you looked into homeowners insurance for older homes?
Historic houses weren’t designed or built like today’s residences. Combine their unique design and construction with the usual challenges of age, and you have a very special home indeed. And it needs special Georgia homeowners insurance.
What Makes Homes Historic in Georgia?
As you might suspect, age is the first indicator of a historic home. But the residence doesn’t have to be all that old. It can be a historic house if it’s only 50 years old.
Beyond age, other factors that make a house historic include its architectural style, standout method of construction, or other significant point of originality.
Your place might further be earmarked for historic preservation if a significant event occurred there at some point in the past (“General Robert E. Lee slept here”).
Or the appeal might be entirely personal. It could have more to do with generations of your own family living there. Or your simple love of the architecture of a Victorian house. However you define historic, classic, or antique, it’s the home you love — and you want to protect it and maintain its value.
Why Historic Georgian Homes Require Special Insurance
Older structures — including those that might have achieved century home status — have multiple and unique challenges in home maintenance and reconstruction that can cause problems.
For instance, an aged electrical system might start a house fire. An ancient plumbing system could flood your interior.
Once the damage is caused, the next challenge is restoring the historic house. That might require contractors or carpenters who understand and can work with a construction style of the past. Can they even find the building materials your house needs?
Then there’s the fact that certain repairs might not pass today’s building codes, and alterations must be made. That’s not going to be cheap.
In short, the cost of maintaining and restoring old homes might be more than a conventional homeowners insurance company will yield in claims. That’s why you need specialized homeowners insurance for old homes — a policy that can accommodate your home’s unique obstacles, challenges, and vulnerabilities.
Types of Insurance for Historic Properties
Fortunately, you have coverage options beyond traditional policies for historic homes like yours. Here are a few.
Historic Home Insurance
This is coverage that recognizes your unique situation. Your home isn’t like one that’s been built over the last few or several years. Its distinct architectural style should be respected in renovations, and construction materials must be found and used that might not even be in stock at the usual big-box home supplies retailer.
That means when things go wrong — and the older the home, the likelihood is that breakdown will occur sooner rather than later — repairs and restoration can get costly. Historic home insurance, therefore, costs more, but it offers more in financial protection when you need it the most.
Renovation Insurance
Thinking of renovating your historic home? Once again, you’ll want a contractor who understands your home’s legacy and can find and work with building materials that might not be in easy circulation. What if something goes wrong?
Renovation insurance is a specialized plan offering expanded coverage over a traditional policy. You need it because it’s likely you’ll be spending multiple thousands of dollars to make sure your home renovation goes smoothly and there are numerous things that can go wrong. Your vintage home is a valuable investment, unless it loses considerable value through shoddy workmanship or damages that occur while the work is being done.
Renovation insurance, therefore, offers liability coverage if lawsuits must be brought for property damage during the proceedings and you must involve the legal system.
Ask your agent to explain the details, advantages, and cost of renovation insurance before you begin such a critical project.
Preservation Insurance
If your historical home suffers major damage after a fire, flooding, storm damage, or other catastrophic event, it’s not just a matter of repairing rooflines, replacing shingles, fixing window frames, or reassembling fireplace mantels. The mission is much larger than simply fixing broken home elements. It requires delicate craftsmanship from artists who know how to restore a property like yours to its original integrity.
Proper restoration might be a legal necessity if your property has received designation as a home of historical significance.
The purpose of preservation insurance is to ensure that your home is restored as it should be. This will involve the use of craftspeople with the specialized knowledge needed, and construction materials that might be both relatively rare and expensive.
Don’t try to take on this kind of work on your historically significant property without first asking your agent for the addition of this specialized form of coverage.
FAQ
Here are answers to a few of the most commonly asked questions on acquiring homeowners insurance for older homes in Georgia.
How Can I Insure My Historic Home?
Simply chat with your agent. Your agent will ask for the age of the property and perhaps walk through it. If you’re working with an independent insurance broker, they can solicit quotes from numerous quality carriers to find you the best option for your home, at the most affordable premiums.
What Defines “Historic” Home in Georgia?
Its age and architectural significance are indicators of a classic home. A historical house is likely to stand out from more recently built homes as prime examples of, for instance, Victorian, Georgian, or Colonial Revival architecture, among other distinct styles.
How Do Rare Materials Affect My Coverage Options?
Distinctive and hard-to-replace or duplicate materials include distinctive brickwork, timber framing, and detail work. Past construction methods include the use of such bizarre-sounding substances and methods as lime mortar, horsehair plaster, and wattle and daub wall filling.
Your vintage home might have also made more liberal use of substances that are outrageously expensive and rare today, such as marble, copper, and granite.
These materials are expensive to replace, and most likely wouldn’t be covered in full under a traditional homeowners policy. That’s why you need specialized coverage with homeowners insurance for older homes.
What Is the HO-8 Policy?
A standard homeowners insurance plan is known by the industry as an HO-3 policy. An HO-8 is a modified form of such a policy in which the insurance company recognizes that the house could be expensive to cover, due to its age and historical significance.
With this modified form of coverage, your coverage might be limited. That’s why a standard homeowners policy might not be adequate for your needs, and you might be better off upgrading to a specialized form of homeowners insurance for older homes.