comments:
We lost our home to fire over Christmas. The insurance companies are bloody useless and they don't seem to have out of hours numbers. The contents insurance people will send out a company to catalogue the place. In my experience the people at the third party company were really nice. They sent a team of 4 people for a 2 bed flat for a full day to make notes on everything - even fridge magnets. You're going to have to go through the spreadsheet they send and tell them what everything is worth, their estimates are fairly good and if they go too low and you can prove the cost to replace an item (not what it is worth before the fire - i.e. cost to buy an X inch TV) or your original receipt they don't seem too argumentative about it. They will take clothes, rugs, etc and attempt to clean them and will return the things they classify as "beyond economic repair" if you want to try and clean them yourself. You're going to be spending a lot of time looking at spreadsheets and going through your purchase history. Regarding the stuff left behind or things the insurance company class as beyond economic repair you can try and clean them yourself. Smoke sponges are useful. Degreaser if your friend. Putting things out to air for a few weeks or in the sun does wonders. Magic erasers work well. Screwfix will sell you boiler suits, foot coverings, gloves (don't get black ones because then you can't see if your hands are dirty) etc. Head torches are useful for going through the mess too. Charcoal bags seem to absorb smells quite well. If things were smoke or water damaged (not actually melted or burnt to a crisp) they're surprisingly saveable if you want to invest the time in. We got a fire proof safe. First thing we went for after the fire was passports and the house insurance documents so with hindsight this seems like a rather good idea to me. As for the buildings insurance, no idea. Underwriter and insurer arrived within a week to have a look around. Finally accepted liability last week with no communication and apparently contractors are about to get cracking ripping out kitchens and cleaning things. Good luck with it.