I seek wise counsel. And I figured this would be the best place to find it.

The issue in question deals specifically with home insurance and pipe/sewer damage that happens outside of the house. Recently, a friend of mine had sewer pipes burst outside of her house—they all became offset and had to be replaced. To the tune of $8,000. In this particular instance, the ruptured pipes didn't do any damage to the home, just shut off the water in the house until the pipes were replaced.

So my friend, who has sewer-back up protection, submitted a claim...which was denied. The adjuster told her that unless the pipes froze and did damage to the house, they couldn't cover it. My friend told her that tree roots damaged the pipes which were connected to the house, and the adjuster still said they couldn't cover it.

So here's the big question: Does anyone offer homeowner's protection from this peril? My friend's insurer said they did not offer any such coverage and I'm now wondering if homeowners are left vulnerable to this possible time bomb in their backyards. And when the cost to repair this kind of damage ranges from $4,000 to $8,000...that's a sizeable chunk of money that could easily set a family back a few pennies. And it seems to me that many homeowners purchase additional sewer back-up coverage to ward off these kinds of financial setbacks.

At any rate, I'd love it if you insurance gurus could leave me some pearls of wisdom on this matter via comments. Many thanks!