Back on july 4th I had a heart attack and required 5 stints 3 in my LAD. I posted and thanks again everyone for your well wishes.

Now it's christmas day and I had a fire and require a new home.

I had an electric fire in my garage that spread to half the house. Fire department showed up in under 4:30 minutes, maybe another 3 or 4 to set up the hoses but by then the fire had grown enough that they could not put it out in time to stop the smoke and damage from making it uninhabitable.

The front of our truck melted away but luckily we got the suv and sisters car out of the drive way in time.It is going to be totaled because it was just and old dump run truck. Not worth insurance fixing. Adjuster told me over phone without even looking at it yet.

Really sad, stressful and uncertain times ahead. We are insured but I'm a pessimist and feel like insurance will find a way to not cover the expense of rebuilding completely, or the correct valuation of the items inside that were lost or damaged.

I have some video of the damage on my phone but lack the ambition right now to post it to youtube for linking.

A simple fire alarm in the garage would have alerted us as we were on the other side of garage wall eating christmas lunch oblivious that a fire had broken out in the garage,

The power line from the pole disconnected at the house and threw sparks 20 or more feet in the air.

It was scary. People could feel the heat on their face from 50 yards away.

Sorry. Houses can be rebuilt.

Glad everyone is ok.

Holy hell. I'm relieved to hear you are okay, however.
Please know that things will get better. I am speaking for myself here; please let us on SF know what -if anything- we can help you with.

Wow, so glad you are safe. Prayers for a quick resolution.

So sorry to hear this. I'm glad everyone is safe.


ARman

Be thankful it happened during the day and not when everyone was sleeping. I'm sorry to hear that, but at least the house will be built again.

So sorry my friend. Good to hear everyone got out OK.

I am a bit north of you in NH - if you need anything in the short term feel free to reach out.

Hate that you are going through this.

Some smoke detectors now link up with others in the home and sound a home alarm. As you stated, having one in the garage might have resulted in a different outcome.

Be patient and stand firmly with insurance.

edited: removed question.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ffips,

I'm glad everyone is safe and healthy, but man, I am so sorry. I'll keep you in my prayers and I wish the absolute best for you in recovering from this.

wow glad to hear no injuries. be glad to help out anyway I can.

You have my sympathy. My mother's house burned to the ground, only a desk and my grandpa's Rem 341 Sportsmaster survived, she was 6 years old at the time and it was on Christmas Eve. They used a fireplace to heat the house at the time and sparks had landed on the roof setting it on fire.

I'm glad you and your family got out safely!

So sorry to hear about your home, glad everyone is ok.

WOW! Glad you made it out. Have the insurance people stepped in to start to get you squared away?

That is awful but everyone is okay. Stuff can be replaced but human lives cannot.

Oh man, I am so sorry nickelsig. I'm glad everyone is ok. Possessions can be replaced.

I will add a prayer for you and your family. I live in an area along the SE Florida coast so having my share of hurricanes and dealing with loss and relocating, I feel for you. It can be extremely stressful dealing with insurance carriers. I'm sure you'll get a lot of good responses and advice with dealing with insurance.

Despite the loss, and it's hard to deal with just looking at the photos. I wish you well.

Very sorry to hear NickelSig, Hope you can get headed in the right direction very soon.

If there is something we can do please let us know here. Most of us are a long ways away but can certainly figure out a way to help out if need be.
Don't be shy.

Prayer sent

Sincerely, orc

quote:

Really sad, stressful and uncertain times ahead. We are insured but I'm a pessimist and feel like insurance will find a way to not cover the expense of rebuilding completely, or the correct valuation of the items inside that were lost or damaged.

^^^^^^^^^^
Proceed slowly with the insurance company. You will be paid based upon what your policy states. Regrettably, most people do not fully understand their coverage, deductibles and coverage of contents. Work with your agent on the claim. There are professional experts who can provide a second opinion if needed.

Typically, policies provide payment for temporary housing since the home is not habitable.

If you have video of the contents that is ideal. If not take your time to come up with an evaluation.

I am sorry that you had to endure this loss.

Sorry this happened.

You may be inundated with Public Adjusters trying to scare you into signing with them. They will handle your claim for a fee. Do Not sign with one now, or a fire-chasing contractor. You can always hire one of these people later if you think you need to.

Your size loss and bigger is what I do for a living, adjusting claims for one of the 3 largest carriers. My email is in my profile, email me any questions you have.

Your insurance company by law has to pay for what you had no more, no less. Up front the payment is "actual cash value" so there is a deduction for depreciation. Provided you have replacement cost coverage, when you replace the contents item or repair the home, you get the depreciation back. There may be lower sub-limits for tools or cash, watercraft, trailers. A lot of the sub-limits only apply to theft and will be N/A for this.

Your whole house will probably have to be gutted down to the studs and expect to be out of it for 6+ months. Hire a contractor you trust that understands insurance and fire restoration. The best one may be on your carriers preferred vendor list (if they have one). Your mortgage company (if you have one) will also be listed on the check, you can probably sign the check and hand it to your contractor and they will deal with the mortgage company for you...ask them.

Since I'm also military my personal insurance is USAA, not the carrier I work for (I'd be perfectly happy with my company if I didn't qualify for USAA), but I hired a contractor off of my work insurance company's preferred vendor list because I know and trust them to fix my own home.

quote:

Your mortgage company (if you have one) will also be listed on the check, you can probably sign the check and hand it to your contractor and they will deal with the mortgage company for you...ask them.

^^^^^^^^
I would advise against signing the check over to the contractor. It is my experience that mortgage companies typically balk at this sort of thing. Perhaps it is different when it is an isolated instance and not a large federal disaster. It has been my experience and those of others that the mortgage company will allow for small draws on the amount which are paid to the policyholder and then to the contractor.

Again, the rest of your information is excellent, and as I said the customs may be somewhat different in your area.