After building a climbing wall for his daughter, a Calgary man revealed that he would have to tear it down since his insurer would not cover it.
Steve Poffenroth had the 3.5m wall built this summer for about $3,000 for his 15-year-old daughter who climbs competitively. Poffenroth initially thought that the wall would only require a small add-on to his home insurance.
“I guess I was naive to think that I would get a rider added — similar to if I had added a home hot tub or something like that — and potentially pay an extra $10 or $20 a month for insurance,” he told
CBC News.
Poffenroth’s insurer, Canadian Direct Insurance, did not share his thoughts, and informed him through a letter that it would terminate his policy later this month. Poffenroth approached other insurers who were willing to provide coverage, but found that he would potentially end up paying double for homeowner’s insurance thanks to the climbing wall.
“I’ve never had any insurance company tell me how this would be any different than insuring a swimming pool or a trampoline or a tree house in their backyard,” he remarked. “At the end of the day, I’m not quite understanding how this is any more dangerous or implies any more liability than any one of those things.”
“I don’t think it’s fair and I think it’s especially not fair for my Dad, because he’s put so much time and effort into making this wall for me,” commented Annika, Poffenroth’s wall climbing daughter. “We’ve done nothing wrong. And I feel like he doesn’t deserve to have to take it down.”
Canadian Direct Insurance provided an official statement to
CBC on the matter, explaining that the company assesses a number of variables when it comes to climbing structures and that safety was a key consideration.
“I have never heard of someone talk about installing a climbing wall,”
Insurance Bureau of Canada spokesperson Steve Kee told
CBC. “So, I’m sure that this is something that is rare, but with any activity that may have some risky or higher risk behaviour, insurance companies take that into consideration.”
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