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Mechanical failure is not covered under any policy that I know of.

The fog and black specks are "mold". Please do not ever pay or recommend payment or you may be drummed out of town.

wind storms don't produce much of a change in barometric pressure.

It is not storm related damage.  When the seals go bad on the windows, it is a maintenance issue.  Most homeowners don't understand or are frustrated when I tell them that this is not covered.  I usually explain it as "If these seals were broken by the wind, the rest of your window would be located in this room somewhere."  I've even had some people claim that hail damage broke the window seals... **face-palm**

Mr. Ray Hall,

Early on in this thread on 12/23/2010 you stated:

"All new and older adjusters this myth was exposed about 12-13 years ago by State Farm who hired experts to test these windows for the cause of the "fog and the black specks" between the glass. It was seal failure 100%( defective seals) and had nothing to do with wind pressure."

I cannot seem to find any record of this myth bust by State Farm. Admittedly I was still in school circa 1998 or 1997 so I haven't been around as long as others. Would you be so kind as to point me on the trail for the expert test results etc. that were concluded from the study performed by State Farm.

Thank you

Ray,

I cannot find record or results of the State Farm testing you referenced.  Can you point me in the right direction as to the results of this study?

Thank you!

--------------------------------------

I just learned that Mr. Hall has passed away.  I gather he was quite the force in the adjusting world!  May he rest in peace.

Is anyone else familiar with the State Farm window seal vs. wind testing that he mentioned to have occurred circa 1997-1998?

Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you.

 

Initially, the burden of proof is on the homeowner.  They have the freedom to show you the windows and allege wind and barometric pressure.

Then, the burden of proof shifts back to you if you are going to deny the claim.  Now, you must prove that it's not wind. You can not deny a claim because you happen to disagree- or because you found a seemingly flawless answer on an internet forum...  

As an adjuster, you can do a reasonable job of inspecting the cause of these failures that can serve as basis of a reasonable denial; inspect all elevations, consider wind speed, barometric pressure changes, research the brands to identify recalls.  On a flat rate billing arrangement, I realize this can be a very scary proposition for some.  I know, who want's to work for free? 

The seal failure of windows is not something that can be addressed with a broad stroke or an engineer report such as the one Ray spoke of.  I'm sure it would be a nice read regarding the failure of numerous installations.   This would serve as a decent bulletin to teach adjusters/investigators additional points to consider.  Nice fellow, I just disagree. Alone, this would not serve as a reasonable basis for denial- just bad faith fodder.

All claims are handled on an individual case by case basis.  Just because an insurer did something one way, doesn't mean you assume that you should too.  Accepting consensus in the place of a proper investigation is a very bad way to go.  In my recent experience, it was cheaper for the carrier to pay for the windows (less than $1,000) than to hire an engineer for $1,500 to $2,500 to dispute the precise cause of the failure.  I was told to pay, so I did.