What can be saved after a fire, and what cannot.
Hard and non-porous usually survives: metal, glass, ceramics, solid wood, hardware. Porous and absorbent usually does not: mattresses, upholstery, carpet and pad, and anything that has taken smoke into the material rather than onto it. Food and medication go without exception.
Photograph and list every item before it leaves the house, including the ones that are obviously ruined. That list is the claim.
Usually salvageable
- Metal, including cookware, tools, and hardware, if cleaned before corrosion sets in. Soot is acidic, so this is time sensitive.
- Glass and ceramics, washed. Discard anything crazed or cracked.
- Solid wood furniture, if the finish is intact. Refinishing is often cheaper than replacing.
- Clothing and linens, laundered repeatedly, often by a specialist. Expect several cycles and expect some items not to come back.
- Jewelry and hard valuables, cleaned professionally.
- Documents and photographs, by a specialist, including freeze drying for wet ones. Do this rather than discarding.
- Hard toys, washed.
Usually not
- Mattresses, pillows, and box springs.
- Upholstered furniture that absorbed smoke rather than sat near it.
- Carpet and pad.
- Soft toys, particularly children’s.
- Cosmetics, toiletries, and medication.
- Food, all of it, as above.
- Anything with visible charring, structurally or otherwise.
- Laminate and particleboard furniture that got wet.
The two hard cases
Electronics. The rule is: do not switch them on. Soot residue on a circuit board is conductive and corrosive at the same time, so a device that appears to work now may fail in weeks, and powering it on can complete the failure.
Professional electronics restoration exists and it works, and the insurer will often pay for it because it costs less than replacement. Have items assessed rather than either binning them or plugging them in.
Anything irreplaceable. Photographs, letters, a christening gown, a grandfather’s tools. Specialist restoration for textiles, paper, and photographs is real, and it costs more than the item is worth in every case except the ones that matter. Ask before anything goes.
Wet paper and photographs deteriorate fast. Freezing them stops the clock until a specialist can work on them, and it is one of the most useful things to know on the first day.
Do not clean it yourself first
The instinct is to wash what looks washable. Resist it for anything going to a specialist, because:
- Water on soot sets the stain.
- Home laundering can fix smoke odor into fabric.
- Cleaning before documentation loses the evidence of what was damaged.
Get it photographed and listed, then let the contents specialists take what they are taking.
The inventory, which is where the money is
Insurers pay against a list. A vague list pays vaguely.
Room by room, record:
- What it was, with make and model where it matters.
- Roughly how old.
- What it would cost to replace today.
- A photograph, before it goes.
Sources that make this bearable: old photographs taken inside the house, which show what was on the shelves; email receipts and order histories; bank statements; and, for anything expensive, the original purchase records if they survived.
Do it in the first days, in stages, while it is fresh. It is tedious, everyone hates it, and it is the single highest paid work you will do that month.
Replacement cost, and why it matters here
If the policy is replacement cost, it typically pays actual cash value first and the balance once you actually replace the item and show a receipt. That means:
- Keep every receipt for replacements.
- Do not let the claim close before you have replaced the significant items.
- Ask what the deadline is for claiming the balance. There usually is one.
The short version
Hard and washable survives, absorbent does not, food and medicine go without argument. Do not switch on any electronics and do not wash anything headed for a specialist. Photograph and list everything before it leaves, and freeze wet photographs and documents to buy time.