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Post by Diana on Jun 11, 2011 20:54:45 GMT -6
My daughter Desiree's boyfriend Andrew and his family had a terrible house fire Thursday night after lightning struck their house during a thunderstorm. The family wasn't home when the fire broke out and one of their dogs was rescued from the fire but their other dog, Dusty, did not survive.....he had hidden under the bed upstairs and when the firefighters found him and brought him out, it was too late. We were there yesterday to try to help out with whatever we could do; it looks like the home is a total loss and we just feel completely awful and helpless. It seems that their insurance company has taken fast action to take care of the family; they have been in a motel so far and today were out looking at fully furnished homes to rent (paid for by insurance) until they can rebuild their home. Please keep the Smith family in your thoughts and prayers....they are are a great family and wonderful people.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Jun 11, 2011 21:30:37 GMT -6
I'm glad the family (and one dog) were saved, but it is still very sad. Not only losing one puppy, but all their family photos, books, treasured memories..... It's hard to get your head around!
It's a good wake-up call: back up your essential information, OFF SITE!!
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Post by Diana on Jun 12, 2011 7:16:08 GMT -6
Yes, it is hard to get your head around, and they are of course completely overwhelmed. We've talked about scanning all of our photos and putting them on a CD or USB drive and putting it in our safe deposit box; now would probably be a good time to start. We have a fireproof safe that we keep important documents in, but not all of them are in it.
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Post by Tex on Jun 12, 2011 7:37:43 GMT -6
Tough day. Sorry to hear it.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Jun 12, 2011 8:44:09 GMT -6
I got a great little scanner that scans a snapshot in about 15 seconds! I posted about it in the geek forum. I'm gradually scanning all my old snapshots. Just in case!
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Post by Diana on Jun 12, 2011 9:07:27 GMT -6
I saw your post about the scanner and have thought about getting one. If I remember correctly, it's pretty inexpensive, around $100 or so. My brother has been working on scanning all of the family photos from our parents' house; I should probably do the same.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Jun 12, 2011 9:11:39 GMT -6
Yeah, it was around a hundred bucks from Amazon. It has it's own SD card slot, so you don't even need to connect it to your computer to use it. Just feed the photos through one by one while you're watching TV or whatever, then dump them to the computer later.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Jun 12, 2011 11:02:26 GMT -6
Sorry to hear about your friends house Diana, I will keep them in my thoughts.
On scanning photos, no resolution is too fine. Photo emulsions are about the equivalent of 3000-4000dpi (depending on the film speed so you are still losing information at 800dpi, information that might be important to someone someday.
Also, cheap scanners are nice, but if you have a few extra $$ some of the better ones let you throw a bunch of photos onto the glass and the software determines where the photos are and scans each one automatically.
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Post by nolaflacav on Jun 12, 2011 15:42:19 GMT -6
The insurance geek in me says not only scan your photos but please take a digital video of your entire house. And do it once a year. When the time ch-ch-changes twice a year you should ch-ch-change the batteries in any battery operated smoke detectors you have. And one of those times also shoot a fresh home video.
Go room to room including the garage, attic, and any walk in closets. Open all the doors. Open any credenza/cabinet/dresser drawers. And then stand in the middle of the room and do a slow 360 pan shot of the room. If any of the rooms have mirrors please make sure you are not naked when performing this task. Save the video off site. This will be invaluable if you ever have a complete and total loss.
The most difficult losses I ever had to adjust were when the house was totally destroyed. I would meet with the insured off site at my office or a hotel room and we would try to reconstruct an inventory of the house. I promise you stuff will be forgotten.
Try this. Close your eyes right now in the room you are in and try to put together a list of everything in that room. And remember you are doing it when you are in an excellent frame of mind. How many pictures, lamps, hard drives, digital cameras, pairs of jeans, etc. did you miss? And multiple those missed items by 6 or 8 times for every room. I promise you are leaving some ch-ch-change on the table
Video your house and you have a great tool to jog your memory. Insurance geek out.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Jun 12, 2011 17:26:05 GMT -6
Good advice. Thanks!
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Jun 12, 2011 18:12:53 GMT -6
But not necessarily "in the cloud" (e.g., YouTube) because if someone sees it online, there *might* be some clue as to who you are/where you live and plant the idea to clean you out. Either burn it onto a DVD or an external drive and stash it in the safety deposit box at the bank. |
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Post by Diana on Jun 12, 2011 18:16:33 GMT -6
Excellent information, Nola....thank you! We usually ch-ch-change out our smoke detector batteries when the time ch-ch-changes (and our detectors are wired into our home security system so the fire dept. will be notified if we're not home), but it had never occurred to me to make videos regularly. One thing our friend told me on Friday was that she was looking around trying to visualize everything that was in each room and she just couldn't remember. Of course she was in shock, making it much more difficult, but as you said, it would be impossible for me to visualize and name everything in each room in my house right now.
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Post by nolaflacav on Jun 12, 2011 20:46:55 GMT -6
Excellent information, Nola....thank you! We usually ch-ch-change out our smoke detector batteries when the time ch-ch-changes (and our detectors are wired into our home security system so the fire dept. will be notified if we're not home), but it had never occurred to me to make videos regularly. One thing our friend told me on Friday was that she was looking around trying to visualize everything that was in each room and she just couldn't remember. Of course she was in shock, making it much more difficult, but as you said, it would be impossible for me to visualize and name everything in each room in my house right now. It is difficult but tell them to keep going room by room. But narrow it down even further and go wall by wall. Same with closets. Go wall by wall and shelf by shelf. When the wall has a credenza on it do the same thing and work through each piece of furniture that has storage areas. Do not leave out the little items. They add up and the goal is to max out the full amount allowed in the policy for personal belongings. For example, in the kitchen do not overlook all the spices, cooking utensils, freezer contents, pantry items, etc. In the bathroom/linen closet pick up all the sheets, pillow cases, towels etc. Don't forget the attic with Christmas decorations and other trinkets It will be difficult but chop it up into portions. And get the feedback from everyone in the family. Include close friends if were in the house frequently. Just be consistent and don't jump all over the place. |
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Post by Merlot Joe on Jun 12, 2011 22:57:05 GMT -6
Thanks for the info Nola. Sorry to hear about your friends home Diana.
I had a friend who's home burned about 25 years ago. I was there about 30 minutes after the fire department. The fire was contained to the two rooms in the house but the damage from the smoke, heat, and the water ruined the rest of the house.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Jun 12, 2011 23:20:36 GMT -6
I remember hearing once what to do if your house is on fire: wait half an hour, then call the Fire Department. The theory being, you are better off with a total loss, than trying to live with a smoke-damaged house that will never be the same. I don't know if I agree with that advice or not, but it always stuck with me........Jake
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