The idea of your home being wrecked by a flood or fire might not seem particularly likely but when these rare events occur they can be devastating.
This is why buildings insurance cover is so important for those who own property - and getting the right kind of protection in place is equally as important.
Buildings insurance refers to protection for the actual structure of property plus fixtures and fittings.
One of the most common ways of describing what is covered by this policy is to think about what would not be taken with somebody if they moved house.
Typically this means things like internal doors, light fittings, kitchen and bathroom installations and anything else which is generally permanent in the house.
Normally a policy will protect against damage and destruction resulting from fire, flooding, vandalism and some other eventualities.
Flooding is an important one because in some flood risk areas your property may be more expensive to insure, or it may be difficult to get protection for flooding altogether.
It can be important to carefully check exactly what is covered as unpleasant shocks can cost someone hundreds of thousands of pounds or more when it comes to property.
For example, and you may want to check whether storm damage including falling trees is protected against, and earthquakes are also a possibility, even in Britain.
Homes and cars are damaged every year from falling debris which comes from planes, so this may be something else to bear in mind.
Buildings insurance cover will also come with a top limit and this should be the cost of rebuilding the house from scratch, as opposed to the market value.
The market value includes the cost of the land the house is built on, which cannot really be stolen, or destroyed by fire or flooding.
As such the maximum amount of payout on your policy should simply be enough to rebuild the house from the ground up in the event it was completely destroyed.
The devil is also in the detail with some policies - for example, does your potential deal or your current deal protect outbuildings like garages and sheds in the same way that it protects the structure of your home? In some cases everything on the property which is a structure of sorts right the way down to fences will be protected, but in some cases they will not.
Also what about gates and driveways, which may well be worth something in that they have cost a considerable amount of money to install, but which may not be protected on a policy in the event of storm damage, for example.
Buildings insurance cover can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and some deals are designed to protect people who only need this form of cover and not contents insurance, for example.
Those who might fall into this category could be private landlords who own a property but don't have anything of value in it, with the intention of renting to tenants.
If a property like this is likely to be empty for long periods, it can be worth checking to see if it would be covered by the insurance in such circumstances - if not a special clause or policy may be needed.
This is why buildings insurance cover is so important for those who own property - and getting the right kind of protection in place is equally as important.
Buildings insurance refers to protection for the actual structure of property plus fixtures and fittings.
One of the most common ways of describing what is covered by this policy is to think about what would not be taken with somebody if they moved house.
Typically this means things like internal doors, light fittings, kitchen and bathroom installations and anything else which is generally permanent in the house.
Normally a policy will protect against damage and destruction resulting from fire, flooding, vandalism and some other eventualities.
Flooding is an important one because in some flood risk areas your property may be more expensive to insure, or it may be difficult to get protection for flooding altogether.
It can be important to carefully check exactly what is covered as unpleasant shocks can cost someone hundreds of thousands of pounds or more when it comes to property.
For example, and you may want to check whether storm damage including falling trees is protected against, and earthquakes are also a possibility, even in Britain.
Homes and cars are damaged every year from falling debris which comes from planes, so this may be something else to bear in mind.
Buildings insurance cover will also come with a top limit and this should be the cost of rebuilding the house from scratch, as opposed to the market value.
The market value includes the cost of the land the house is built on, which cannot really be stolen, or destroyed by fire or flooding.
As such the maximum amount of payout on your policy should simply be enough to rebuild the house from the ground up in the event it was completely destroyed.
The devil is also in the detail with some policies - for example, does your potential deal or your current deal protect outbuildings like garages and sheds in the same way that it protects the structure of your home? In some cases everything on the property which is a structure of sorts right the way down to fences will be protected, but in some cases they will not.
Also what about gates and driveways, which may well be worth something in that they have cost a considerable amount of money to install, but which may not be protected on a policy in the event of storm damage, for example.
Buildings insurance cover can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and some deals are designed to protect people who only need this form of cover and not contents insurance, for example.
Those who might fall into this category could be private landlords who own a property but don't have anything of value in it, with the intention of renting to tenants.
If a property like this is likely to be empty for long periods, it can be worth checking to see if it would be covered by the insurance in such circumstances - if not a special clause or policy may be needed.