What should I do with the furniture before the crew comes?
Move valuable and small items up and out of the water if it is safe, and photograph the room before anything is moved. Do not lift heavy furniture standing in water, and do not plug in or switch on electronics.
A quick photograph of each room, with the water line visible, is more useful than a perfect list written later. Keep the photographs with the date and the time, and note any items you already moved.
If items have to go to the curb before the crew arrives, photograph them first and write down what they were. A discarded item with no record is hard to claim for, even when it was ruined.
How are items cleaned and disinfected?
The method depends on the material. Solid wood and metal are washed and dried, glass is washed, and sealed surfaces are wiped down. Porous items that held silt or sewage are usually removed rather than cleaned, because the contamination does not come out of the material.
The crew uses products that suit the material and the contamination, and it does not mix cleaning products. Dried silt is brushed off before washing, because wet silt can smear into the grain of wood and the weave of fabric.
A cleaned item is dried in a ventilated place and checked for odour before it returns to the house. An item that still smells after cleaning is a candidate for discard.
Where is pack-out stored while the house is repaired?
In a dry, secure, ventilated space chosen with the homeowner, which may be a clean room in the house, a garage or a storage unit. The location is recorded, and the items are kept off the floor and away from heat sources.
A storage unit is often used for larger jobs, and it should be dry and secured against pests. Items should be labelled with their log number so they can be found and matched to the record.
Keep the storage period short where possible. The longer an item sits in storage, the more likely it is to need further cleaning or to be discarded.
How does the insurer look at contents claims?
The insurer looks at whether the item was damaged by the water, whether it can be cleaned, what it would cost to replace and whether the policy covers contents at all. Your log, photographs and the item's age and condition all feed into that.
Keep receipts or photographs of valuable items where you can, because the insurer may ask for proof of ownership. Records of the pack-out, storage and disposal are part of the claim too.
Massachusetts consumers are directed first to the insurer or the producer, and then to the Division of Insurance. Keep copies of everything sent to the insurer.
What about items that belong to a tenant?
The tenant's belongings are logged and handled the same way as the owner's, and the lease and the policy decide who is responsible for what. The landlord and the tenant should each receive a copy of the log.
A tenant may have renter's insurance that covers their own belongings, and the owner's policy usually covers the building. Ask the tenant to show the policy and to keep the same record of their items.
The pack-out log should say whose item each is, so the two claims can be kept apart. A shared list avoids a later argument about who owned a damaged piece.
Keep the storage log in the same folder as the photographs and the removal list, and check each returned item against it when the rooms are dry. Note any item that arrives damaged, the date and the condition. A closed log, with every item marked returned, discarded or disputed, is the final proof that nothing was lost in storage.
