House Burned Up -- Anyone Know about Insurance?

[CurlyDave]

...The other thing that will happen is that the insurance company is going to want to have you replace trim in only the area being reconstructed, and then the trim will be mismatched with the area that didn't burn. Then the question gets to be--"why doesn't the trim match?" Answer: we had a fire. Then the buyer gets nervous or starts asking for a price cut.

Might help you in selling the house if you keep a photo log to show buyers that no shortcuts were taken in the rebuilding.

What is the record for the longest thread on TBN? I suspects it's going to be broken.

State Farm has already admitted that 100% of the sheet rock and all trim is a complete loss. We are in the process of removing all of the sheet rock. Everything that goes back in is going to be new, so it should all match.

I like the properties of MDF more than the finger jointed pine. I will have to inspect some of the custom houses in the area.

For right now, I am going to hold State Farm's feet to the fire on color matched, grain matched, stain grade oak, which is what I had. Hand rubbed, not this spay stain junk they have started using. I even remember the exact stain, Behr Golden Oak. Now I know to insist on coping saw cuts in the bid though.

The longest thread that comes to mind immediately is Eddie Walker's "Creating a Lake" thread. We are no where even close to that.

Eddie and I have similar ideas on a lot of things, but his writing style seems more interesting than mine, and he has a lot more construction experience.

Since digital photos are essentially free, I will keep a good log. I don't know about a selling feature, but I will probably give the buyers a couple of CDs worth of pictures.

 

[Doc_Bob]

We are in the process of removing all of the sheet rock. Everything that goes back in is going to be new, so it should all match.

Since digital photos are essentially free, I will keep a good log. I don't know about a selling feature, but I will probably give the buyers a couple of CDs worth of pictures.

How do you find the time to monitor all this work in Calif. and live in Oregon? Sounds like a full time job.
Bob

 

[JRobyn]

Wasn't MDBarb's property-rights/lawsuit odyssey the longest thread? And just how is MDBarb doing these days anyway? Anyone heard?

- Jay

 

[3RRL]

Dave,
Another thought about the new construction...
I'm sure your neighborhood is very well maintained and there is a certain level of home in that neighborhood. I mean if they are all fancy high end, then your reconstructed home should be too. I would take a look at what it would cost to build a high quality home but perhaps without any fancy upgrades that would drive the cost of construction way up. I don't mean to build a shack, I mean to build a solid nice home with decent amenities. It would need to fit into the neighborhood, but just not be the "biggest and best" one on the block.

Perhaps there is a trade off between what you can save and pocket from the insurance proceeds vs investing it into the new construction. The way the market is here in So. Cal, a lessor priced home would sell much quicker than an expensive one. My point is, if you can build a good quality salable home and save say $100,000 to $200,000 which you could pocket, you could afford to lower the sale price of the home and get rid of it sooner without taking a loss on the sale property. It might attract more buyers that would otherwise be out of their price range. Plus you have that money in the bank already and real estate commissions etc would be lower. Sometimes investing into a home will not get back the money you put into it.

Now this would only work if you could build a satisfactory home (to you) in your neighborhood and realize a financial gain by doing so. The possibility could even exist where you pocket the insurance proceeds and still sell the home for more than you invested in it? That would be a double win situation for you. Anyway, I don't know if the numbers would play out for you or not, or if your neighborhood could absorb it, but it's worth it at least to look into it if you haven't given it a thought yet.
Rob-

 

[2manyrocks]

I think you make and hold the pictures in case serious questions come up later. You wouldn't show them initially or it would raise more questions and scare people off because that's not normally done. Where the pictures would be used is if you get a serious buyer who says he wants the house, but heard there was a fire. Then maybe the photos can be used to assure him that it was carefully rebuilt.

3rrl's point that you need to watch how much you sink into this relative to what will sell the most quickly is a great one.

Maybe there will be a sequel to Creating a Lake--"Building a Dock."

 

[tallyho8]

Wasn't MDBarb's property-rights/lawsuit odyssey the longest thread? And just how is MDBarb doing these days anyway? Anyone heard?

- Jay

No, that thread doesn't even have 1/4 as many replies as the Lake thread.

 

[Doc_Bob]

No, that thread doesn't even have 1/4 as many replies as the Lake thread.

One post closer!!!!!

And, when the pictures are posted, even more.

BTW, where are the demolition pictures?
And pictures of the house after the fire?
Did I miss them?
Bob

 

[ctpres]

Two ideas for reconstruct project.
5/8" fire code sheet rock. Less sound transmission between rooms and WAY BIGGER dif. in burn thru time. Check specs.
Not sure what it might be called in CA but look at ceiling texture called "stomp and drag" with ceiling painted first and then texture applied. See photo. The white is painted sheetrock and gray is texture on painted ceiling. Good news is if you don't like it paint over. If interested I can give you better description of how it's done. Did it on our house and have yet to hear anyone say they didn't really like it. Picture is with cell phone about one foot from ceiling. Hopefully you can get the idea.

 

[CurlyDave]

OK, by popular demand here are some photos.

The West Side looks pretty good from a distance, but if you come a little closer and look at the rear skylight you can see how the roof is beyond salvage. The rear with balcony shows how some of the siding has been completely burned away, all the rest, even what looks OK from the outside is damaged on the inside.

The front fascia board is close enough to see what the fire inspector called "alligator char" on it, and 100% of the rafter tails have the same alligator char somewhere on them. Essentially, if there is alligator char the wood is not salvageable.

The gas fireplace shows the massive interior damage downstairs. It doesn't show in the picture, but the panes of glass in the french door next to the fireplace first broke out, and then the fragments left in the door melted. The interior upstairs shows the sheet rock is just plain gone almost everywhere, and even though the wood looks like it might be salvageable, the walls shown are non load bearing partition walls. All the load bearing walls are damaged to some extent, some pretty dramatically.

The answer to how do I find time to monitor the work in CA and live in OR is simple -- I don't. One of the first battles with the insurance company was that the policy has a loss of use clause, whereby they have to rent me alternative housing if mine is damaged to the extent that I have to move out. They said it didn't apply because I had retired and moved to OR. I said that was true, but now that the house burned down I am moving back to supervise the construction. I am not going to just turn a contractor loose with $400-500k and say "build a nice house for me". I am going be out there watching what goes on and injecting my opinion every day they are working on it.

They decided to rent me a house.

The cat, the dogs, and I are moving back to CA on Jan 11. DW and I will still come up to visit the Grants Pass house often enough to keep squatters at bay, but we will be in CA probably 10 days out of every two weeks. I am trying to figure out some way to get the tractor transported to CA for less than a fortune, but I have to figure out something to do with it first. The terrain is very uneven and has lots of rock and concrete retaining walls. Not exactly tractor country.

 

[Doc_Bob]

They decided to rent me a house.

Good for you!
Bob