Fire Damage Claim | ICS received a call from an extremely distressed property owner asking for help with her fire damage claim. She had her solid wood, bespoke kitchen unit destroyed by fire. The rest of the kitchen was also heavily soot stained and smoke damaged.
The insurance loss adjuster sent by her insurance company offered to pay for the replacement of the damaged section of the kitchen, and suggested that she tries to clean the rest. The home owner did not feel the offer reflected the damage to her kitchen. Her kitchen was her pride and joy and the centrepiece of her home. It was expensive, bespoke and it would be therefore difficult to match the old with the new.
ICS were appointed soon after the loss adjusters visit to professionally manage her insurance claim. Her aunt, who had used the services of ICS a few years ago, gave her our name.
Fire Damage Claim – How Insurance Claim Solutions Handled It
Insurance Claim Solutions Loss Assessor visited the site within 4 hrs from receiving the call. We found out that not only was the kitchen heavily smoke damaged, we also found smoke deposits in adjoining rooms that would require specialist cleaning and redecoration.
The staining and discolouration to the kitchen would be impossible to remedy by cleaning and treatment. The naked timber would be permanently stained and there was a high risk of smoke odour re-occurrence. After detailed discussions, the Loss Adjuster agreed to a full kitchen replacement. ICS also argued successfully for the professional cleaning and redecoration of adjoining rooms and replacement of the furniture .
Conclusion
Smoke damage to a kitchen is often treated as a cleaning job. Here, a careful inspection showed that the timber was permanently stained and that smoke had reached the adjoining rooms, and that evidence is what the claim was built on.
Our fee for assessing the damage and dealing with the claim was a small commission.