A squirrel trashed their house, Georgia family says. Insurance won’t cover repairs
A squirrel wreaked havoc inside a Georgia man’s house — but insurance won’t cover repairs, he says.
Dustin and Kari Drees came back from their vacation to find animal droppings and walls covered in paw prints, the husband told McClatchy News in a phone interview Tuesday.
Photos from the homeowner show the animal left a Christmas stocking, headboard and window sills in disarray.
So how did the critter sneak in?
It may have come down the chimney, leaving a soot-covered toilet seat as evidence, according to the husband.
It happened in Buckhead, an upscale neighborhood north of downtown Atlanta.
The unwelcome visitor came soon after Drees and his wife bought their first house, he told McClatchy News.
The couple’s security system even alerted them while they were out of town. But a check on the house yielded no intruder — at least no human one, according to Drees.
Now, the family’s insurance company says it denied the claim.
“Unfortunately, damage done to a property by birds, vermin, rodents and insects is not covered,” Mercury Insurance said in an emailed statement. “This is explicitly stated in the contract and all insurance companies we know of have similar exclusions.”
Mercury also says it offered to pay for the couple to live somewhere else for up to two weeks while their house is cleaned.
Drees estimates getting rid of the damage will cost about $15,000 to $20,000.
He says they recently went into home ownership but didn’t expect this to happen.
“We have a 9-month-old daughter, and we are first-time parents,” he told McClatchy News. “Obviously, there’s stress there.”
