Legitimate question: my storage facility was damaged by those grass fires this weekend. My unit is untouched, but I have smoke and ash all over my stuff. For insurance purposes, What is considered smoke damage, and what can be affected? I figure the mattress would be included in this, as well as any other soft, porous goods. But what about electronics or the flooring on my boat?
I would think everything.
And lots of pictures.
And lots of pictures.
Do you have renters insurance to cover the contents of the storage facility? I’m not sure that your homeowner’s insurance would cover that.
I don’t. I am not sure if the facility has insurance either. I do have coverage on the boat though.
My guess is that they probably won’t have insurance on your stuff for the same reason a landlord doesn’t have insurance on the stuff in a tenant’s apartment—you can’t insure something that you don’t own. I’m not sure if the rules regarding storage facilities are different from rental residences, but I don’t think they are in this case.
Basically, before you go to the trouble of documenting all this stuff, make sure it’s not a wasted effort. If your homeowner’s insurance won’t cover it, you’re probably SOL on this one.
My storage unit make me show proof of insurance before I could park my camper. I had a skunk spray under a house I was renting one time. Insurance told me tuff luck. Same with land lord. That was a ruff several months.
As an owner of boat storage units, it is the tenants responsibility to insure their personal property. My insurance does not cover any personal property stored inside the units. I know that isn’t the answer that you were hoping for, but more than likely you won’t be able to file any insurance claim. Like stated above, the only chance for an insurance claim is through your homeowners insurance, but it isn’t likely that it will work.
There may better cleaners available now but in '93 when my house burned the only ones I found that worked on smoke damage was Simple Green and Old English. FYI for the stuff you would like to salvage. We cleaned with Simple Green then went back over it with Old English, it worked.
Similar threads
