irondoors4u All info is useful, thanks for sharing.

olldbobbi Interesting point about already having pictures or video of your home from holidays and celebrations. Not something I would have thought about.

loishapi SURVIVING DEVASTATION FROM FIRE; Perhaps my experience will be helpful to someone. In 1983 my city home was ravaged by fire, two alarm, my daughter and I were rescued from the second floor by ladders, our pets did not survive. Almost everything was damaged, the worst being kitchen, dining room, top floor bedrooms, stairwells and foyers, all bathrooms - burnt, melted, foamed and blackened mostly beyond recognition, incomprehensible. To keep this simple, those who have not experienced physical devastation to their home may have difficulty grasping that one is in schock and an accurate or obective assessment of damage is nearly impossible. Take a friend with a camera and begin at one end moving through the home one step at a time with the idea of creating a panoramic documentation of every square inch of space. Side to side, up and down, so you end up with a visual prompt for yourself and family members of each shelf, cupboard, drawer, window, floor and wall, ceiling too. It will take some time but will be well worth it when you make those nightmarish lists for the insurance adjustor who may not be as supportive as hope. The lists for myself and teenagers became 73 single spaced, lined large ledger pages. Room by room, cupboard by cupboard, drawers especially tricky, suitcases, handbags and their contents - this is a time consuming process that took months to finally settle - all the way to toilet paper supply. Lipsticks? Dozens. I became obsessive to the realization great accumulated consumption, once neatly methodically stored or displayed and subsequently destroyed, even melted, came back to life in my memory because of the hundred odd photographs of where they had been kept. I shot each frame as if i was standing there in front of the closet, shelf or drawer as I had done many times before the fire in my daily routine life now gone forever. I was a shopper back then with teenagers to help me. Anyway, read your policies, have an objective knowledgable person explain what it means and what you are covered for - if you are fortunate enough to have insurance as we were. Be your own advocate because the adjustor is not. For us it was an uphill battle due to the style we were accustomed to back then and to my razor sharp pencil and memory. I was obsessed with leaving out nothing. To all who have lost, I convey my sympathies, thoughts and wishes for recovery, reconcilliation and comfort. To houzz for addressing this devastated community, I commend you.

loishapi Me again on the fire claim: This is addressed more so to readers who are uninsured. Exactly 2 weeks before our fire, as I was going through bills and receipts in my home office, I remembered my New Year resolution to increase my policy. And on that day, I doubled my coverage. Why? I was creating a lovely home and had been spending plus the teenage daughters. Need I say more? I learned this from the experience, whatever you think your contents are worth? Double it! Think: what would it cost me to REPLACE everything in this home? What I thought I had spent, when it came time to replace it all,was double. Also, my policy provided for something called "Additional Living Expenses" - calculated then as 20% of the total contents package. This provides coverage for everything you need (not contents) over and above your monthly average living costs. Imagine finding comparable temporary housing as close to your destroyed home as possible, where you will live until your policy is settled. Most people run to a hotel and we were no different. Then clothing - we had none and it was dead of winter in Toronto. The hotel - The Four Seasons literally adopted us for the few weeks we were there until I could find a furnished rental and then we lived there until finding a new home, well a very old home, as then my tastes were city heritage brownstones to restore. No more. Anyway, please to all who are not insured, it will be the best investment ever because life as we know it can end in a night. Best to take those photographs BEFORE disaster. And store receipts in fireproof containers. And think "double what I think it will cost". Read your policy. Be strong to those who will now go to war to rebuild. What we went through was one family's home and life. I cannot imagine losing my neighbourhood, or my neighbours, whether I know them or not. Your President is with you and so are countless others. Perhaps HOUZZ will create a donations situation for the uninsured?

wayoutdesignstudiowww Never is it wise to voice the kind of comments that signal to many millions of people totally devastated by this horrible,horrible disaster that they could have been a little more prepared! For if you do have the recipe to wart off " Super Storms" like this, Then all of mankind certainly awaits !!!

duchessrlb This was helpful! I have started the process of taking photos and finding and saving future receipts. I am 20 mins away from devastated parts of New Jersey. That story was helpful to me to get my affairs in order. I have been assisting those affected by Sandy and its heart breaking! My heart goes out to all. For me its helpful future knowledge and current perspective on life.

loishapi To "wayout": Not sure where your unhelpful comments are directed? To the uninsured who have a home left standing to insure? Or to the devastated insured who will have to labour through an ordeal as I have shared?

duchessrlb @loishapi you started off saying you hope your experience could help others! I thought your experience was very helpful! Not only was I putting it into action but I am now seeking to help my friends by taking photos for them since they where affected by Sandy. I was shock to see your unkind reply. Lesson learned by me via making a comment - people are quick to cut. So sorry my response came across to you so "way out"!!! At the end of the day some good has come of this. I am planning to review my policy with my agent and I will still reach out to assist my friends in NJ by photographing their losses to help assist them with their insurance carriers. Sorry to have replied the first time. And to think...so far two of my friends responded and said they'd appreciate my taking photos for them. I have you to thank for the idea.

loishapi no my dear I was not addressing your helpful comments rather I was addressing the "wayout... nom de plum. I am sorry you had to feel that was coming towards you so please take a mnoment to read above your first comments to see where I was coming from. No worries. Thank you for your kind words, for addressing this and for all your helpful remarks and actions. Be well.

tlimpact My heart goes out to all those Sandy victims. I know the feeling of Loss, and the agony of Recovery. August 2011, explosion Fire Demolished my home. My beloved Dog was in the house. The fire was not caused by me.

It took me a year to demolish, rebuilt from scratch, and moved back into the new home. I was referred to this Houzz websites for design ideas. Great websites btw.

The Loss/ Fire recovery....the emotional toll is harder than I thought, when standing there watching my house burned. What I had, was what I was wearing that afternoon. While, wondering the first 2 hours, if my dog survived.... and He did. The firemen found him hidden under the Master Bedroom bed.

loishapi did a great job in capturing the pain and long recovery process. I echo the need for those Loss victims to be their own consumer advocates. Please work closely with the insurance adjustor. Always push back, if you don't like what you hear. Ask Tons of questions. Check with your neighbors that's going though this process. For me, getting money in phases for rebuilt of a home was long and painful. Plus, the long itemized list of items to capture on a list. The distinction of Replacement value vs. Depreciated value are terminology that you will learn.

Contractor/ Builder Tips : Read the Contract carefully, ask for Warranty of Workmanship. I asked for 3 years warranty in writing from the General Contractor. even though it is customary for 1 year in CA.

Insurance Tips : Please look at the "Loss of Use" provision on your insurance policy. Please be sure to be current in your rental market. I learned the hard way, after the fire. I was under-insured for the Bay Area. My rent for a single 1 bedroom apartment was $2,300 a month. much higher than my mortgage. oh, I also had to pay mortgage to a burn down house, while it was being demolished and rebuilt.

Good luck with those impacted by this storm. You will survive this. I promise you. Have good friends and loves ones around you for the long ordeal ahead.

Doris Burton Those with custom-built homes ought to also know that some insurance companies use a computer spread-sheet called Xactimate to determine construction replacement costs. If your contractor does not use it, and most do not, you are in for months of hard negotiating. Xactimate is designed for tract-housing, not custom. The print-outs are a nightmare to review and expecting contractors to provide the kind of detail the program requires (27 nails, 16.5' of molding, etc) is overwhelming . Our home was damaged by a tree on June 29. We moved into temporary housing (covered by insurance) Oct 1 costing them $6k/month. As of now, we have a roof and replacement wall but are still about $17k short of enough to have a home again. Somehow, they'd rather pay for housing than sheetrock. We hope that, now the debris is gone and our contractor can see the full extent of needed repairs, we'll be able to convince insurance to increase the amount.
The annoying part is they are covering everything else: damaged furniture, clothing loss, furniture storage, rug cleaning...they've said yes to everything else--just not to the contractor's bid (which was the middle of the 3 we were asked to get.).
I cannot imagine handling an entire house loss and my heart goes out to those of you in Sandy-affected areas.

woodkiwi It is good to take insurance policy that covers the disaster recovery so that when it occurs you are secure previously and will able to safe you and your family members.

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