Extenuating Circumstances

I haven’t been on social media much at all the past several weeks. While it’s been healthy there’s a reason. You see I suffered a home fire on January 20, 2021 which was our inauguration day in the U.S. It’s an easy date to remember.

The day seemed fine. I was busy most of it and found myself coming home late in the afternoon and tackling some chores. One of which took me to my basement, where I have some storage as well as my laundry area and a basement apartment where a friend lives. I walked upstairs and within about 2 minutes heard the fellow from the basement yelling at me that there was a fire. We were lucky that we were there, it had just happened, and we and our 3 pets could get out quickly and call 911 from the porch. The cause of the fire was the stove in the basement apartment.

I have always tried to be prepared for anything. I have talking smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in two locations in basement and in kitchen on the main floor. We were very lucky. Perhaps we could’ve put it out with a fire extinguisher but I believed it better to leave it to the fire department.

I try to make any experience a learning experience as well as a good time to share with others so you can learn from my experiences. Because of this I want to teach you what I’ve learned so far so you can check your own policy and plans.

I’ve always been aware that there are different parts of homeowner’s policies. I remember for all my years as a homeowner being given totals for rebuilding that is usually calculated by insurance companies and for personal property. Each of these amounts is different between different companies. I have in the past had higher limits for personal property when I’ve had large collections of firearms or other valuables over the years. Because I’ve purged a lot in the 10 years since my husband’s death I’ve accepted the recommended amount of personal property insurance.

What I’ve learned is that even though the actual burn area was confined to the kitchen area of the basement and ceiling tiles, everything in the house clear up through the attic is affected by smoke. Smoke penetrates everything in the home both in structure and in personal property.

Attic insulation needs to be replaced. Electronics are affected and lifetime shortened. Paper and plastic holds smoke and can’t be cleaned professionally (though I suspect an ozone machine might help). Besides smoke damage you may have water damage from the fireman.

Here’s some information you should know.

• Personal property falls into three categories.
  • One includes items that can be cleaned.
  • One is items you wish to keep that can’t be cleaned. Some examples for me were my photos, my record collection, some mementos, and a few books.
  • The last one is items that can’t be cleaned that you decide not to keep and are considered a loss.
• Personal property loss is best handled by content inventory specialists. They create a detailed list of every item that you agree will be a loss. They physically pick up every item and everything is counted. It’s very important to have the inventory folks come in first after the fire inspector from the insurance company completes his or her inspection.
• You and only you choose the company to remediate (clean) your belongings that can be cleaned. Choose wisely. You will also need a company to rebuilt. Few companies do both. You will be targeted by remediation companies when they learn of the fire and your insurance adjuster will recommend one as well.
• The packing, moving, cleaning and storage of your items to be remediated comes under your personal property portion of your insurance. This is important to note. For example if you are insured for $150,000 personal property and the remediation company charges you $50,000 for then you are down to $100,000.
• Damage to personal property can be:
  • Destroyed (no evidence of item left)
  • Smoke Damage (smells)
  • Water Damage (from fireman for example)

I didn’t know a lot of these details and believe I’ve always been in the know. You don’t know what you don’t know. This is what I’m learning…the hard way!

The first step was to go through the house with the remediation crew and determine what could be cleaned and what couldn’t. I don’t have a lot of furniture and what I have is solid wood. I have gradually moved away from cardboard and to storing in plastic totes. I do save boxes from any items I purchase or receive as gifts that are of value. This includes collectibles in my curio cabinets, computers, electronics. I have a lot of books. I love books.

The furniture can be cleaned. My brand new Tempur-Pedic mattress and adjustable base had to be disposed of and counted as a loss. Books will hold smoke smell and cannot be cleaned. They must be inventoried so that you can be paid for the loss. Of hundreds of books I kept my cookbooks and some books that were special to me or I knew my son would want some day. Plastic cannot be cleaned. That means that while I prefer to use glass storage bowls many do have plastic lids and I do have a few plastic cups for outside and some plastic storage containers. I have plastic cake and pie covers and pitchers. All must be tossed. All food must be tossed even if new in the package.

The much harder thing I now realize is that if everything burned to the ground and you were left with ashes you would be sad. You would be given your money to replace your personal property. That’s honestly what I think many of us, and certainly me, think of when we think of the personal property part of our homeowner’s insurance. The harder thing is the items that look perfectly fine and you see no reason to toss but certainly don’t want to smell smoke when they are brought back into your smoke-free home in the future.

There are some discrepancies. One is regarding plastic totes. Plastic will hold the smell and can’t be cleaned. Maybe it could be wiped down inside and out. Most of the totes I use have tight fitting lids. One company involved with me told me that everything needed to be removed from the totes and the totes disposed of. Another company told me that depending on what was inside and how well it was sealed it very well would be fine and could be boxed into a new tote or a cardboard box at a later date. This has caused me far too much stress because I made some decisions that I think were wrong.

Also important are how the employees handle your stuff. The inventory folks handled everything so carefully and with respect. The remediation company’s main contact was great. The crew that came to do the work acted as if it was just another job and a bunch of stuff. They broke a large B-29 model when they knocked it, threw away some things that were supposed to be cleaned, didn’t follow directions on my LP collection, and several other mishaps from what I can only sum up as lack of care.

In the near future I will need help to clean out and rearrange a few things in my garage so I can line with shelves and move items I’m keeping into there. I have some other decisions to make in the future about cleaning and storage of my personal property now that I know the bill for this is coming out of my total personal property allowance.

I have been staying at a hotel since January 20th and the housing company the insurance company uses has found me a rental home where I will move later this month and stay until my home has been renovated. I anticipate wiring will need replaced and perhaps my new kitchen appliances because of circuit boards and Bluetooth technology. My recent instant hot water system that feeds my radiator heat and hot water at faucets will have to be replaced as will my mini-split system installed a year ago. My hardwood floors original to my 1938 home may have to come up because they may hold smell. I’m not sure what all will be recommended yet.

This time last year I was involved in my fabulous kitchen remodel. This year is a lot different!