Are you adequately insured? If the unthinkable happens and you have a damaging fire, some or all of your household contents will need to be replaced. Without a detailed household inventory, processing and collecting an insurance claim at the full value of your losses can be difficult to impossible.
Start your household inventory now and set a deadline for its completion. Begin by taking a camera or video recorder from room to room including the garage and around the outside of the house to document your structures and all their contents. Keep in mind that having a family member in the picture will help you establish your ownership of the items should you need to file an insurance claim. Each item should also be documented on a list with details of its name, description, size, age, model number, brand name, and any other information that helps determine its value.
Remember to list everything including items you can’t readily see because they’re in closets or dresser drawers. Keep receipts (or copies of them) with your inventory for big ticket items like stereo equipment, computers, large tools and equipment, artwork, silver, crystal, and jewelry. Check with your insurance agent to be sure that these items are adequately covered for replacement. Most agents can also provide you with a home inventory form to help guide you in collecting the information you need.
Put your videotape or photos and written descriptions with receipts in your safe-deposit box so you’ll have access to it if your home is destroyed.
Also, check the value of these items periodically to adjust your coverage as necessary.
When a disaster strikes home and everyone survives, the one item most home owners wish they had is a household inventory. If you don’t already have one, the time to make one is now.
Article Credits: Fire Marshal Alan Perkins, CFPS, is a 32-year veteran of the fire service. A Certified Fire Protection Specialist through the National Fire Protection Association and a member of several similar safety organizations. Perkins is the Fire Marshal for the Washington Township Fire Department, Dublin, Ohio. For more information, contact: Leslie Dybiec, Public Information Officer Phone: (614) 652-3928 Fax: (614) 766-2507 or ldybiec@wtwp.com
Live Safe Foundation is an Ohio based non-profit organization (501c3), and leading grassroots movement, devoted to making and fire and life safety education, awareness initiatives and life saving tools available on a broad basis to communities, campuses, and institutions in an effort to reduce national fire fatalities and fire losses. Live Safe aims to help finance fire safety education where means are otherwise unavailable. Live Safe is developing and sponsoring programs to help groups find the resources needed to advance individual and community fire safety.















