Reviewed and approved by Samuel Corso, licensed Texas insurance agent.

Does home insurance cover a shed or detached garage in Texas?

Usually yes. The less obvious part is how — a shed isn't covered by your dwelling coverage, it's covered by a separate coverage with its own limit, and that limit is shared with every other free-standing thing on the lot.

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) opens its guidance on this with the assumption it's correcting: "Did you know your home insurance covers more than just your house? It also pays to replace or repair other structures on your property."

That's the good news. The number attached to it is where people get caught, and it's small enough to be worth doing the arithmetic before you need it.

Here's what we'll cover: what counts as an "other structure," where an attached garage falls, the 10% rule and why it's shared, which kinds of damage the coverage responds to, what happens to the contents of the shed as opposed to the shed itself, the two situations that take a building out of the coverage altogether, and what to check on your own policy.

What counts as an "other structure"

TDI's definition is short and it turns on one word: "Most policies define 'other structures' as structures not attached to your house."

Its list of examples is broader than most people expect:

• "Detached garage."
• "Storage shed."
• "Pool or guest house."
• "Outdoor kitchen."
• "Barns or chicken coop."

TDI's home insurance guide names the same coverage in its list of the six coverages a Texas home policy usually bundles together: other structures coverage "pays to repair structures on your property that aren't attached to your house. This includes detached garages, storage sheds, and fences."

So the shed in the back corner, the workshop, the carport standing on its own posts, the barn, the fence — all of them are drawing on the same line of your policy, not on the coverage for the house.

The attached garage is a different question

"Does home insurance cover a garage" turns out to be two questions with two different answers, and which one you're asking depends on whether the garage touches the house.

TDI's definition covers the detached case: structures "not attached to your house" are other structures. A garage built into the house — shared wall, door into the kitchen — generally isn't in that category, which means it's generally being insured as part of the dwelling rather than out of the other structures limit.

That distinction matters in a very Texan way, because the garage door is one of the parts of a house that wind finds first. If the garage is attached, a damaged door is generally a dwelling claim against your dwelling limit. If it's a detached garage, the same door is drawing on the smaller shared bucket described below.

As with everything in this area, TDI's standing caveat applies: "Coverages vary by company. Read your policy or talk to your agent to be sure of your exact coverages." Some policies word the attachment test differently — a breezeway or a shared roof can change the answer — so the declarations page and the policy wording govern, not the general rule.

The 10% rule, and the fact that it's shared

Here is the number.

TDI: "Most home policies include coverage for other structures at 10% of your house's insured value. For example, if you have $300,000 of coverage on your house, you have $30,000 in coverage for other structures. You'll also have to pay your deductible."

Two things are hiding in that sentence.

First, it's a percentage, not a survey of what you own. Nobody measured your shed. The limit came off your dwelling amount, which was set by the cost of rebuilding your house. Whether it happens to match the cost of rebuilding your outbuildings is a coincidence you should check rather than assume.

Second, it's one bucket for everything. In TDI's example, $30,000 is not the shed's coverage. It's the shed and the detached garage and the fence and the barn and the pool house, together. A hailstorm that takes the roof off the workshop and flattens a long run of fence is one claim against one limit.

Run the arithmetic on your own house. Take your dwelling coverage amount, take 10%, then walk the property and add up what it would actually cost to rebuild everything that isn't the house. If the second number is larger than the first, that gap is real and it's worth a conversation with your agent about raising the limit — TDI's advice throughout is to ask rather than assume.

Note the last clause too: "You'll also have to pay your deductible." A detached structure claim isn't deductible-free, and for many Texas homes the wind and hail deductible is a percentage of the dwelling amount rather than a flat sum — which can be a large number relative to a shed. Our guides on home insurance deductibles in Texas and how the wind and hail deductible works cover how that figure is calculated.

What kinds of damage it covers

The coverage isn't narrower in what it responds to, only in how much it pays.

TDI: "Your home policy pays for the same types of damage to structures as it does for your house. Some examples are fire, hail, theft, or sudden and accidental water damage."

The same geography rule applies as well. TDI: "If you live anywhere in Texas – except along the coast – you probably have wind and hail coverage in your home policy. If you live on the coast, you can get coverage from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association." If you're on the coast, your outbuildings sit under the same windstorm arrangement as your house — our guide on windstorm insurance and TWIA explains how that works.

And the same exclusion applies. TDI: "Most home policies don't cover damage caused by floods. Talk to your home insurance agent about getting a flood policy from your insurance company or the National Flood Insurance Program." A shed that floods is a flood claim, and a flood claim needs a separate flood policy.

Fences get one specific treatment worth knowing. TDI: "If your fence was damaged by wind and you have wind coverage, your policy will probably pay for the damage. Policies usually pay actual cash value for fences. That means your company will deduct depreciation based on your home's age and condition." And: "Most policies don't pay for fence damage caused by ice or snow unless your house collapses on the fence."

What's inside the shed is a different coverage

This is the question behind "does home insurance cover shed contents," and the answer is that the mower, the tools and the bikes aren't part of the shed at all as far as the policy is concerned.

Buildings are structures. What's stored in them is personal property, which is its own coverage. TDI describes how that one is usually sized: "Home policies usually pay a percentage of your dwelling coverage limit to repair or replace your furniture, clothes, and other property. For example, say you insure your house for $100,000 and your policy covers your property at 20% of that. Your personal property would be insured for up to $20,000."

So a storm that destroys a shed full of equipment is potentially two coverages doing two jobs: other structures rebuilding the shed, personal property replacing the contents. Whether your policy applies the full contents limit to property kept in a detached building, or a smaller specific limit, is a policy-wording question — ask it before you need the answer. Our guide on personal property coverage in Texas covers how those limits and sub-limits are structured.

The two things that take a building out of the coverage

TDI flags one directly: "If you use a structure on your property to run a business, ask your insurance company if you need a separate policy or extra coverage."

That's a wider net than it sounds. The detached garage that became a workshop you take paying jobs in, the barn that stores inventory, the outbuilding that's now an office — the building didn't change, but its use did, and the use is what the policy is asking about. TDI's instruction is to ask the company rather than find out during a claim.

The second is the general condition-and-maintenance line that runs through the whole of home insurance. TDI: "Companies won't pay for damages that happen over time, like rotted boards, cracking window seals, or worn roofs." An outbuilding is usually the least-maintained structure on a property, which makes it the most likely place for a claim to land on the wear-and-tear side of that line. Our guide on what home insurance doesn't cover in Texas walks through where that line falls.

TDI also notes a consequence people don't expect: "When you buy or renew a policy, the insurance company might inspect your house. They could charge you more or not sell you a policy if your house is in poor condition." A collapsing shed is visible from the driveway.

A related case worth naming: TDI's example list includes "pool or guest house," and a pool has enough of its own rules to need its own guide — see does home insurance cover a swimming pool in Texas.

What to do with this

• Find the other structures line on your declarations page. It's usually labeled Coverage B. Compare it to 10% of your dwelling amount to see whether you're on the standard setting.
• Price the lot, not the shed. Add up the rebuild cost of every free-standing structure you own. That total is what the limit has to carry, all at once.
• Check the deductible that would apply. If yours is a percentage of the dwelling amount, work out the dollar figure and compare it to the cost of the structure you're worried about.
• Ask which side of the line an attached garage falls on. Get the answer in writing, before a wind claim makes it urgent.
• Declare business use. If any building on the property earns money, that's a conversation with your agent, not an assumption.
• Insure the contents separately in your head. Structures coverage rebuilds the shed. Personal property replaces what was in it.

Key facts

• Other structures is its own coverage. TDI: other structures coverage "pays to repair structures on your property that aren't attached to your house. This includes detached garages, storage sheds, and fences."
• The definition turns on attachment. TDI: "Most policies define 'other structures' as structures not attached to your house."
• TDI's examples: "Detached garage. Storage shed. Pool or guest house. Outdoor kitchen. Barns or chicken coop."
• The limit is usually 10%, and it's shared. TDI: "Most home policies include coverage for other structures at 10% of your house's insured value. For example, if you have $300,000 of coverage on your house, you have $30,000 in coverage for other structures. You'll also have to pay your deductible."
• Same perils as the house. TDI: "Your home policy pays for the same types of damage to structures as it does for your house. Some examples are fire, hail, theft, or sudden and accidental water damage."
• Fences are usually paid at actual cash value. TDI: "Policies usually pay actual cash value for fences. That means your company will deduct depreciation based on your home's age and condition." And: "Most policies don't pay for fence damage caused by ice or snow unless your house collapses on the fence."
• Business use changes the question. TDI: "If you use a structure on your property to run a business, ask your insurance company if you need a separate policy or extra coverage."
• Contents are personal property, not structures. TDI: home policies "usually pay a percentage of your dwelling coverage limit to repair or replace your furniture, clothes, and other property."
• Floods still need a separate policy. TDI: "Most home policies don't cover damage caused by floods."
• TDI's Help Line is 800-252-3439.

Sources: Texas Department of Insurance — Home insurance: What structures are covered?, Home insurance guide (CB025), Five things your home policy won't cover. TDI's Help Line is 800-252-3439. Coverages, limits, deductibles, and exclusions vary by company and by policy; your own policy wording governs. This page is general information, not legal advice. For a question about your own policy, read the policy, ask your agent, or contact the Texas Department of Insurance.

Take the next step

Almost everything on this page can be settled in ten minutes with one document. Pull the declarations page, find the other structures limit, and walk the property with it in your hand.

If the limit comfortably covers the rebuild cost of everything standing out there, you're done and you can stop thinking about it. If it doesn't — and on a property with a real workshop, a barn or a long run of fence it often doesn't — raising it is usually a small change rather than a new policy, and it's a change worth making before storm season rather than after a claim.

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