After you suffered storm damage to your home from a hurricane or a tornado, everything seems stressful. The first most important thing to do is make temporary repairs and protect your home and property from additional damage. Get your roof tarped, dry out any moisture and board up broken windows. Once you have your roof covered you are ready to take a look at what was damaged.
Your personal property needs to be listed out for your insurance adjuster. The easiest way to do this is not to make a list of everything at once…. that is overwhelming. Take a notepad and label each piece of paper with a title of the room. (Example Kitchen, Living, Patio, Outside Items, Master Bedroom etc)
You may have rooms in your home that are completely destroyed and everything is missing or gone. When you make your list of damage items, separating out the rooms it makes it easier to visualize as well as easier to re-check your list to make sure everything is on it.
Visualization is the key. Think of that room only. Image yourself walking into the room. First list the big pieces of furniture leaving lots of space under each piece of furniture listed.
For example the first thing in your bedroom you might think of is your bed set. Then list under it the items associated with that. Bedframe, box spring, mattress, 4 pillows, mattress cover, bed skirt, sheet set with pillow covers, duvet cover, down blanket, 3 throw pillows, and light blanket. Can you begin to understand how each piece of furniture of things that go along with it.
It gets more difficult when you start to think of items w drawers. As you image your desk think of opening the top drawer. It is not only the desk but office paper, paperclips, pens, stapler, disk drives, letter openers, preprinted address labels, stamps, rubber bands, stock tape, packing tape, CDs, computer cleaner wipes…..
The list goes on and on. This is not something that can be done in one day. If you have a lot of storm damage it takes time to make a complete list of personal property. Start long before your insurance adjuster gets there so you have time before your insurance inspection to make a complete list
Open drawers in your mind and visualize all the items you keep in each space.