​The first step when doing renovations in your home: Get in touch with your home insurance provider. Below, we'll run down the basics of what you need to know, but every insurance provider has their own rules regarding renovations, and the only way to avoid an insurance gap is to make sure that you keep them up to date every step of the way.

​If you find yourself in possession of a house with no occupants, a vacation home, a retirement home or a home that you are planning to rent out someday, you may question whether it's worth buying home insurance to protect it while it is vacant. Here's what you need to know:

​Assuming payments are made on time, it does happen from time to time that a home insurance provider chooses to drop one of their clients. This isn’t common, but is possible. Luckily, it's not that hard to stay in good standing with your insurer. Here are the most common causes for being dropped by a provider:

​Are you planning to build a garage onto your home? You may be thinking about the differences in an attached and detached garage.

It may be a good idea to speak to your home insurance agent about the difference. Various factors impact the cost related to each type of garage. You should know what to expect before you invest here.

​As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and nowhere is this more true than in basic home maintenance. Spending a little bit of time and effort caring for your home today may save you days of costly repairs tomorrow. Here are some simple, cheap ways to protect your home against potential damages:

​Is it time for you to update your home’s siding? The siding is more than just designed to provide aesthetics to your home. It also is an important way to protect the structure itself. That is why it is always important to maintain it. When damage occurs, have it repaired as soon as possible. You also want to consider how updating your siding, especially with wind-resistant products, might help lower your home insurance costs. Here is more insight.

​A shed is a secondary storage facility on your property. It may be something you use quite a bit or just a few times a year. However, if this is a structure on your property with valuables within, consider insuring it. Your home insurance policy can cover it. However, you need to let your insurer know about the shed along with the value of the contents within it. Here is what to take into consideration.

​Someone comes to your home to enjoy a meal and some good friendship. You share a few drinks. That person leaves gets behind the wheel of the car and causes damage to another person’s property as a result of the alcohol. Intoxication like this can be deadly. In some cases, you, as the person providing those drinks, may be at some level responsible for the losses. Here is what you need to know before you hold your next party with alcohol. Take a closer look.

​The garage on many homes is the area you put things that you do not have any other use for at the moment. It is where you store things like gas for the lawnmower and extra paint from a project. Yet, it is also one of the highest risk areas in your home for fires. These fires can be devastating. Yet, most homeowners have no idea what steps to take to minimize these types of risks. What steps can you take?

​Buying a home is a big risk. Even if you love the home, you never know what happened there. A home inspection can give you some insight into the condition of the home on a more thorough level. From a home insurance point-of-view, that’s important. It can help you, and your insurance agent, know the home is safe. A home inspection is always a good investment. How can it pinpoint insurance-related problems?