Photograph Everything

What is the first thing I should do after a fire? Given that your family is okay. Call your insurance company. Next—photograph everything! And then photograph it again. This may seem very obvious, so obvious that most people never do it.

Here is the reasoning behind why you would photograph everything and do it very quickly. Only you know what your house was like before the fire. The hundreds, possibly thousands of little details that went into making your home "just right" can be easily overlooked by Contractors and adjusters.The only evidence that these items are there that you will have in a few days will be your photos.

When a home burns it needs to be cleaned up relatively quickly, the smoke will etch into some surfaces and anything that gets wet will start to mold if it is not removed. Another point is that when there is a fire everything gets a dull blended look as it all has a coat of smoke on it. This can cause things to be overlooked or seem average.

When you photograph your home you want to take extra care to get the details into the photograph. If your casing has plinths or the tile floor has honed and polished base tile take a photo showing these qualities.

These kinds of details do not show up in ordinary photos and so when you are photographing you want to focus on to the details as much as get the big picture. What do the sinks look like, the shower faucet or shower door. How high does the tile go up the wall or how tall is your base board. How many shelves do you have inside of your closet? Anything you had custom made or altered on your home.

With digital cameras today there is no real need to skimp on the number of photos that you take.