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To build a personal property inventory, use one spreadsheet, work room by room and then sweep by category, and record each item’s description, quantity, brand, age, condition and current replacement cost along with any proof of ownership. List unlike items separately and photograph damaged items before disposal, because carriers pay contents claims only on what…

A home that survives a wildfire without burning can still have real, coverable ash and smoke damage, and the HVAC system is the priority inspection because a system that ran during or after the smoke drew contaminated air through the filter, across the coil and into the ducts. Photograph the filter, registers, attic, window tracks…

Smoke and soot damage is real, claimable damage even when the house never burned, but first estimates often scope it as a surface cleaning job. Smoke leaves physical residue in porous materials, wall cavities, HVAC ducts and contents, so document it with white-cloth wipe tests, photographs of filters and ducts, an item-by-item contents inventory and…

Additional living expenses, also called ALE or loss of use, pay the increase in your living costs while a fire leaves your Spokane home unlivable, such as temporary housing, extra food costs, added mileage, laundry, pet boarding and storage. ALE does not cover costs you would have had anyway, like your mortgage, and most policies…

Document a Spokane fire loss one room at a time once authorities release the property: wide shots from each corner, then each wall, ceiling and floor, then close-ups of the damage and a narrated video walkthrough. Include closets, the attic, HVAC vents, the garage and all four exterior sides, keep a separate contents spreadsheet, and…

When a fire is finally out, the natural assumption is that the damage stopped with it. In practice, two of the most expensive parts of a fire loss are still developing: the water used to extinguish the fire, and the smoke that travelled through the structure while it burned. These are the parts Spokane homeowners…