apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

No tips, but just have to say holy crap!

It might be a little late for this, but when my office had a fire (mostly water damage), a disaster recovery company came and picked up furniture, computers, etc. and took it to their warehouse (in Palatine, maybe?) to dry, clean, etc. There was very little they weren't able to dry out and repair. They have every cleaning method imaginable and did an excellent job. Might be pricey, but it also might be paid for by insurance (ours was); would be worth it for anything irreplaceable or very costly. Look in the yellow pages.

Good luck, to anyone affected by this!

Woo, that's my el stop! What a sight this morning. I feel bad for that Mexican restaurant on the left. When my office had a flood and all sorts of paperwork was soaked, it got sent to a company that freeze-dried the paper so it was still readable. It took six weeks. Who knew there were companies dedicated to this sort of thing?

I second the disaster recovery recommendation - I hope that insurance will cover this. Our basement has flooded twice, once with sewage and once with rainwater. Both times, we were told that insurance didn't cover it.

regarding insurance

Beware of the insurance agent that says, "Don't worry about the little stuff, only list the big stuff." The key to getting enough money to get your house and life back together is to make a claim for everything.

My "little stuff" added up to a whopping $17K on a fire damage claim.

Keep a binder with lots of paper and write down EVERYTHING that comes to mind over the next week or so. You can evaluate and organize your list later.

this is a good friend of mine's Mexican resturaunt....we are going to have a fund raiser...as he lost everything....details will be posted here for everyone...thanx!