If the pipes froze while we were away, would the insurance pay?

q118 questions.yaml · questions.yaml:272 financefilesnotespeople

Conversation

A good answer

Asks which house, or answers for both. Each house has its own policy with its own condition about freezing while the place is empty, and the two conditions are different.

The cabin, over the winter.

A good answer

Only if a condition is met. From October 15 to April 30 the cabin policy covers freezing only if the water was shut off and the system drained, or the heat was kept on and someone checked inside every seven days. Their closing routine (breaker off, lines blown out, antifreeze in the traps, no heat) is the first option. The condition is on the cabin policy's declarations and in no record.

And at home in Madison, the three weeks we are in Gulf Shores?

A good answer

The house policy's condition 6.4 (page 5 of the policy) applies when the house is unoccupied more than 14 days in a row between November 1 and March 31. Freezing is then covered only if the water was shut off and drained, or the heat was kept at 55 degrees or more AND an adult they had asked went inside at least once every 4 days; collecting the mail does not count. What is saved: Marlene next door has a house key, and the note made when the Gulf Shores condo was first booked says "Marlene for the mail and the plants" and "the furnace at 58". Nothing saved says that she, or anyone, goes inside every four days. So the heat half looks met and the visits are not shown either way; a good answer says exactly that and does not answer a plain yes or no.

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Supporting records

The records the answer rests on, from from, with whose they are.

PTM-SD-551208-22 Home Insurance Policy · saved May 17, 2026

property	cabin
carrier	pinery
policy_number	PTM-SD-551208-22
deductible	2500
insured_value	385000
annual_premium	1418
expiration	2027-05-15
next_payment_due	2027-05-15
remarks	Seasonal dwelling policy, May 15, 2026 to May 15, 2027. Bought direct from Pinery's office in Rhinelander, not through Linda.

File: finance/cabin-policy-2026-declarations.pdf

DM-HO-2087341-07 Home Insurance Policy · saved Mar 3, 2026

property	house-madison
carrier	driftless
policy_number	DM-HO-2087341-07
deductible	1500
insured_value	438000
annual_premium	1862
expiration	2027-03-01
next_payment_due	2027-03-01
remarks	Current. March 1, 2026 to March 1, 2027, paid in full. I raised the deductible from $1,000 to $1,500 this term to hold the premium down. Through Linda Schroedl.

File: finance/home-policy-2026.pdf

CLOSING THE CABIN. Per Ray, dictated on the porch, me typing. In this order. Note · saved Oct 19, 2024

about	- cabin
date	2024-10-19 18:30
body	CLOSING THE CABIN. Per Ray, dictated on the porch, me typing. In this order. 1.… CLOSING THE CABIN. Per Ray, dictated on the porch, me typing. In this order. 1. Boats out first. Pike Bay meets us at the landing. Call a week ahead. 2. Dock: Earl and his boy roll it out the last week of October. Chock the wheels. Bench comes off, goes in the boathouse. 3. Water. Breaker 14 OFF (well pump), panel in the hall closet. Open every tap. Drain valve is in the pump house, red handle, quarter turn. Earl blows the lines the Monday after we leave. 40 psi on the compressor. Not more. Do not skip this. 4. Water heater to VACATION, then drain it once the lines are blown. Hose on the bottom valve, out the door. 5. Pink RV antifreeze, one cup in every trap: kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub, shower, toilet bowl and tank, washer standpipe. Two gallons does it. 6. Furnace OFF at the thermostat and at the switch. We do not heat it. Water off and drained is what the insurance wants. 7. Generator stays in AUTO. Runs the cameras and the Starlink if the power drops. 8. Propane tank valve stays OPEN for the generator. Want it above 40% going into winter. 9. Fridge empty, doors propped. No cans, no jars. Six mouse stations, check all six. 10. Septic. Tank was pumped August 14, 2024, Kangas. Every three years. Next is August 2027. 11. Lock the boathouse and the bunkhouse. Bev has a key. Earl has a key. My additions: quilts and the good pillows go home, beds stripped, houseplants and the sourdough starter in the car.

about

- cabin

date

2024-10-19 18:30

body

CLOSING THE CABIN. Per Ray, dictated on the porch, me typing. In this order. 1.…

CLOSING THE CABIN. Per Ray, dictated on the porch, me typing. In this order.

1. Boats out first. Pike Bay meets us at the landing. Call a week ahead.
2. Dock: Earl and his boy roll it out the last week of October. Chock the wheels. Bench comes off, goes in the boathouse.
3. Water. Breaker 14 OFF (well pump), panel in the hall closet. Open every tap. Drain valve is in the pump house, red handle, quarter turn. Earl blows the lines the Monday after we leave. 40 psi on the compressor. Not more. Do not skip this.
4. Water heater to VACATION, then drain it once the lines are blown. Hose on the bottom valve, out the door.
5. Pink RV antifreeze, one cup in every trap: kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub, shower, toilet bowl and tank, washer standpipe. Two gallons does it.
6. Furnace OFF at the thermostat and at the switch. We do not heat it. Water off and drained is what the insurance wants.
7. Generator stays in AUTO. Runs the cameras and the Starlink if the power drops.
8. Propane tank valve stays OPEN for the generator. Want it above 40% going into winter.
9. Fridge empty, doors propped. No cans, no jars. Six mouse stations, check all six.
10. Septic. Tank was pumped August 14, 2024, Kangas. Every three years. Next is August 2027.
11. Lock the boathouse and the bunkhouse. Bev has a key. Earl has a key.

My additions: quilts and the good pillows go home, beds stripped, houseplants and the sourdough starter in the car.

Marlene Dvorak Contact · saved Jan 11, 2011

Whose: Peg Ostrander (friend)

relation	friend
first_name	Marlene
last_name	Dvorak
gender	Female
comments	Next door, 1850. Has a house key.
phones	- number: '6085550105' variant: Home
addresses	- variant: Home street_address_1: 1850 Hawkstone Drive city: Madison state: Wisconsin postal_code: '53711'

Gulf Shores, Alabama: February 3 to 24, three weeks. Note · saved Dec 29, 2017

date	2017-12-29 11:00
body	Gulf Shores, Alabama: February 3 to 24, three weeks. The place: a condominium b… Gulf Shores, Alabama: February 3 to 24, three weeks. The place: a condominium belonging to Dottie Faulk of Birmingham. Egret Pointe, unit 407, fourth floor, gulf side. Two bedrooms, a balcony over the beach. Parking space 31, under the building. She takes dogs under 80 lb for a fee. Dottie does everything by email and wants the balance two weeks before we come. The drive: about 1,050 miles, two days. Madison to Clarksville, Tennessee, the first day (the motel takes dogs); Clarksville to Gulf Shores the second, down I-65 through Alabama. To arrange: Marlene for the mail and the plants. Stop the paper. The furnace at 58.

date

2017-12-29 11:00

body

Gulf Shores, Alabama: February 3 to 24, three weeks. The place: a condominium b…

Gulf Shores, Alabama: February 3 to 24, three weeks.

The place: a condominium belonging to Dottie Faulk of Birmingham. Egret Pointe, unit 407, fourth floor, gulf side. Two bedrooms, a balcony over the beach. Parking space 31, under the building. She takes dogs under 80 lb for a fee.

Dottie does everything by email and wants the balance two weeks before we come.

The drive: about 1,050 miles, two days. Madison to Clarksville, Tennessee, the first day (the motel takes dogs); Clarksville to Gulf Shores the second, down I-65 through Alabama.

To arrange: Marlene for the mail and the plants. Stop the paper. The furnace at 58.

Traps it covers

near_duplicate Each current policy sits next to last year's. Peg has an old and a new passport. Two diamond solitaire rings, hers and her mother's. Old and new doses of the same drug. Two jewelry appraisals eight years apart, whose names no longer say which is current. Two years of the accountant's summary. The 2019 wills and the 2003 ones are both still in the grey box, per two notes. Not every expired policy is labelled as such any more; the dates say it.

two_of_a_kind Two houses, each with its own policy, deed, tax bills and contents. Each policy has its own rule about freezing while the place is empty, with different numbers. Three cars, one of them sold. Two dogs, one of them dead.

only_in_file The facts kept in one file and nowhere else. The long-term care daily benefit ($272.27) is only on the schedule. The life policy's cash value is only on its statement. The cabin's wind deductible ($7,700) and its theft and tree limits are only on its declarations. The house policy's jewelry sublimit, water backup limit and the rule about leaving the house empty in winter (condition 6.4, on page 5 of 8) are only in the policy. Ray's LDL of 68 is only on the lab sheet. Adjusted gross income for 2025 ($116,640) and for 2024 ($109,870) is only in each year's summary. The truck's title number is only on the title (that there is no lien also follows from the purchase receipt's "no loan"). The value of Peg's IRA is only on its statement. The septic system's design and the county's three-year pumping rule are only on the permit.

only_in_note Four facts kept strictly in a note. (1) The boats: hull, motor and registration numbers, in note-boats; the app has no record for a boat and no title or registration is saved. (2) The septic tank was last pumped on August 14, 2024, in note-cabin-closing; the permit gives only the three-year rule. (3) Where the two keys to the safe deposit box are and that Ellen is on the signature card, in note-accounts-and-box. (4) Their burial wishes (cremation, which space is whose, the hymns), in note-burial-plots. No longer only in a note, since the second pass: Ray's allergies (also in the 2019 discharge summary, the 2022 knee packet and the 2026 portal screenshot), the box number 417 and the monthly income (both on the August checking printout), the plots themselves (the cemetery certificate) and the well pump's breaker (the 2020 pump report).