Home Safety

Weather or Not – What’s Covered by Your Homeowners’ Policy?

The winter months usually bring more severe weather and much lower temperatures, and that often means an increase in weather-related damages to homes as well. What’s covered by a typical homeowners’ policy, and what isn’t? Frozen Pipes: Water expands when it freezes, and that’s bad news for copper pipes especially. Pipes exposed to low temperatures…

Making Your Day Easier

At Consolidated Insurance, our belief has always been that we best serve our clients as not just a broker, but as a partner in helping their businesses better manage their risk. To that end, we’re proud to re-introduce MyWave Connect, a time-saving online resource that puts clients in control of customized compliance information and much…

Getting Ready for Fire Season – Clean your chimneys and wood stoves

Click here for a Homeowner’s Quote Nobody wants poor old Santa to emerge from the chimney looking like a scary, sooty monster. Now that the weather is truly chilly and the generous man from the North Pole is on his way, it’s time to think about your chimney and/or to make sure your wood stove…

Still Standing: How to Help Your Maryland Home Survive a Storm

How would your home fare in a storm? Consider the following tips for making your home as impervious to the wild whims of Mother Nature as possible: Roof: When installing a roof, use a covering that is specially designed to resist high winds. Seal all the joints of your roof sheathing with rubberized, self-stick asphalt…

National Poison Prevention Week 2016

What do bath salts, house plants, energy drinks, mouthwash, and over-the-counter medicines have in common? All of the items can be poisonous when used inappropriately and it only takes a second for a child or beloved pet to ingest a household chemical or medicine that could cause permanent damage. Every March, the American Association…

Weather Watch

Calculating the costs of natural disasters and extreme weather events is a complex process that takes a myriad of factors into account, including insurance payouts, lost income, property damage, and lives lost. In most cases, the cost of damage caused by these events far exceeds insured losses. Read on to find out some of the…

Keep Warm Wisely: How to Safely Heat Your Maryland Home

Is there anything quite as pleasant as coming home to a warm and cozy house on a cold winter’s day? Home isn’t just where the heart is in the winter, it’s where the hearth is. Heat comes to us in many forms: electric, gas, portable space heaters, wood stoves, and fireplaces. All of these can…

New Year, New Resolutions, New Insurance Rates

Resolving to make improvements to your health and habits in 2016 can do more than just improve your longevity, your quality of life, your appearance, and your attitude; it can also work to put more money in your pocket! How? Well, in addition to all the cash you’ll save by foregoing the daily double mocha…

Home Health: Tips for Making Your Shelter Healthy

It’s the place where we seek rest and respite from the demands of the workday and the outside world. It’s where we spend quality time with friends and family. It’s where we cook, eat, sleep, shower, and sit by the fire. It is home, and it really is sweet. But is it Healthy? Surprisingly, your…

Extravagant Holiday Gifts and How to Protect Them

Buying something special this year? Camera equipment, jewelry, furs, electronics, etc.? It’s that time of year again, and most of us are making our lists and checking them twice. Some gifts – like those to our partners, children, nieces, and nephews – will be fun and heartfelt. Others – the ones to our colleagues, neighbors,…