News 12 at 6, May 16, 2008

MARTINEZ--So your house is under attack by insects or maybe rodents, you'd probably assume the damage would be covered by insurance.

And that assumption is probably wrong and that can create a homeowner headache.

Insects, vermin, rodents and even birds. If they damage your house, you'll be footing the bill. It's a lesson one Martinez woman is learning the hard way.

We recently introduced you to Theresa Manning. She's the lady whose house had turned into a hive complete millions of bees and more honey than you could imagine.

"It was like a waterfall." she said.

The bees are gone now, but the damage is not.

"I have to rip out floors, carpet, paint, the ceiling." she said. "I can't get the honey off the floors."

A cost this working mother of 3 mistakenly thought would be covered by her insurance company.

"I have to do it all myself." she said.

You might be surprised too to learn that most homeowner's insurance policies won't cover damage from bees. Or from other insects, birds, rodents and vermin. Those are regarded as home maintainence issues that should be prevented from happening in the first place.

That means Theresa will have to put in some extra hours to cover the thousands of dollars in damage.

To make matters worse, her husband is serving in Iraq right now. He's coming home on leave soon. And he'll be returning to a big mess.

"Instead of coming home and relaxing, we're gonna have to work real hard." she said.

To put their house back together again.

You may want to check your insurance policy just so you're not surprised.