What You Need to Know Before Renovating Your Home

Many Canadians are choosing to renovate their home rather than move. With the sky rocketing pricing in todays housing market, its no wonder people are choosing this route. Are you among the many who are planning on doing some home renovations of your own? If so, there are a few things you should make sure you inform your home insurance provider about before diving into major renovations.1. Pool and TrampolineWe all love a good swimming pool and who wouldn’t want to jump around on a trampoline, right?. Despite how fun they are, they may cause home insurance premiums to go up! The presence of a swimming pool creates liability risks including accidental drowning, injury, and property damage.2. RoofInvesting in a new or updated roof is a great choice to lower your chances of making a claim. This is especially true to those in older houses. Many insurers won’t insure you at all if your roof needs updating. A new and improved roof helps reduce the risk of both weather and structural damage.3. WiringMany older homes have knob/tube wiring rather than ground wire and old fashioned fuses rather than circuit breakers. Many insurance companies will not provide coverage if knob and tube wiring is present in the home. Older, out-of-date wiring could possibly lead to electrical fires4. Alarm SystemInstalling a centrally monitored alarm system in your house is a very good investment to lower your premiums and ensure the safety of your family.5. Indoor SprinklersIndoor sprinklers are a considerable investment but if you can afford the initial cost, you will be rewarded with long-term savings on your home insurance premiums. Between smoke alarms and indoor sprinklers, it’ll be nearly impossible for a fire to truly get out of hand in your home.Another important thing to remember is to ensure  your contractor has full liability coverage for both individuals and materials. Never lend any equipment to your contractor, what happens if what you loan them breaks or they hurt themselves with it, you could find yourself facing a lawsuit.Stay informed and keep your assets safe.