The last bit of snow and sleet and freezing rain earlier this week was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back or, in my case, caused the roof of my garage to collapse last night. The garage is a total wreck with the roof completely caved in and one wall flat on the ground. It is a detached garage so the house was not affected. Luckily, there were no people or animals or cars in the garage when it happened.
But now I have all the fun of dealing with insurance companies and contractors to replace the garage. I suspect that nothing much will happen until the weather warms up somewhat.
Fortunately I have insurance to cover most of the cost, I can afford the deductible, and the worst part of it this experience is the inconvenience of all the insurance paperwork, finding someone to put in a new garage, and cleaning up the mess.
Tip: photograph the living hell out of the structure and surroundings. The surrounding area, in part, to show a tree didn’t fall on the garage because that would be your fault. Do it now. Before straightening anything up. Use lighting as necessary. Car headlights can help in some cases. Also try to find anything available that will show the structure, particularly the interior, before the collapse.
If the insurance company is in the mood to play nice, it happens, you won’t need any photographs. If they are feeling cranky you will need all the documentation and tenacity you can muster.
The good news is that nobody is hurt , no vehicles involved so the numbers are much smaller. Garages are cheap to build.
Gosh Mano, I am so sorry this happened to you. I’m glad nobody was hurt and your house is OK, but that sucks!
Thanks, lorn.
I have not wanted to go near the structure because it looks pretty unstable but I can photo from outside.
moarscienceplz,
Yeah, it’s a pain but my attitude is that as long as no one is hurt, all is good. Stuff can be replaced or we can do without.
Winter? What’s that? I’m in the Pacific Northwest, where basically didn’t have any. Not even much rain!
In addition to photographing the wreckage, be sure to look for photos of the garage when it was intact.
Aaargh! “Where WE basically didn’t have any.” FTB doesn’t have any edit function, either. A five minute edit window would be wonderful.