The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk I have been putting this news off....

Hi all,
I have been putting this news off for most of you. some of you may know that I had the misfortune of having my Garage burn to the ground.
This happened almost exactly a month ago and has been a little bit depressing for me, but now it is time to put it behind me.
This was a detached garage, stick built, and they have ruled it an "accidental/unknown" fire (meaning they can't give me a good reason on why it went up. But when it did go up it went, from the time my son noticed the smoke and ran in the house until the time it was completely gone was about 40 min.
So a few lessons I wanted to share with you.
1) Get insurance on every vehicle you own. (for some of you this may seem like a stupid note but because some of these vehicles were "project" trucks I didn't have any insurance on them. I lost a total of 5 trucks.
2) Liability insurance may not cover fire. my policy on two of the trucks were liability only and fire was not covered (see number 1)
3) Dealing with insurance sucks! :mad:
4) you never know how much stuff you have in a garage until you need a tool and then remember that it was "in the garage"
5) I would recommend you video your garage so you can remember what was in there, also keep track if you can of the model numbers of big items you bought so the insurance claim will go smooth.
6) Having a garage fire will definatly try your love of this hobby. There were thousands of man hours of work done in there that is lost.
7) It takes time to get over it.

Now, I know this is a long post but I wanted to also let you know that I lost a 1953 suburban and if anybody needs something off of it before I crush it let me know. I don't want to crush it but I can't go back and redo the work on it again, in order to keep my sanity I got to start a new one.
You all can see pictures at my new photo bucket account at:

http://s1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii570/Lostfamilyofsix/Burnt%20Garage/

I am down but not broken. I still have my 1938 tow truck, my 1972 "Date truck" so I am not leaving the stovebolt any time soon.

I now return you to your regular scheduled programing.

Bummer. Sorry for your loss. Good advise though. If we could/would only learn from others misfortunes we would all be a lot better off!!!

Very sorry to hear of your loss. I can start to imagine how you feel. My detached shop has a finished ceiling. A waterline froze and burst when I was working out of town and my wife had no reason to go in there. 7 days of water raining down. When I got home all the drywall and 24" of insulation was laying all over my rusty machinery and parts and water was still coming down like a rain forest. Even though I built the shop I couldn't face repairing it and hired a crew for the repairs. I didn't even want to go back in until it was cleaned up. If I lost my truck like you did I am not sure I could start over again either.

Chuck

Lo siento mucho.

* shame I feel for you. Ive been through a fire.it sucks but keep on trucken.

So Sorry for your loss....

This is why I have a detached garage a fair distance from the house
so that if either goes up, 1 may survive....Divide and conquire (sp)

DAve

Very sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing the hard earned advice.

As many have said, we are all sad to hear of such a loss. I have thought about the detached building vs. working in the attached garage. And, have been working on my current project in the detached barn. Fire is scary, and I am glad nobody was hurt. We can replace things, but not our loved ones. Hang in there!

Definatly can relate! My shop started on fire but pure luck, a great neighbor, and fine fire department, saved it with little damage! Along the back side of shop, not so lucky. Lost a vehicle and a storage shed full o auto/truck parts! (Did not relize vehicle parts were not covered under contents.)
My buddies shop got torched and he lost everything, including two full dress Harleys and a 64 El Camino!
You are correct, in all of your statments, and fighting with insurance company sucks! Remember all things can be replaced at a cost, a life cannot. Good luck

Sorry to hear, for what it's worth just -keep on truckin'-

Ken

...and if I may add:
Treat your house at least as good as your workshop. Once a year walk through your house and video or photograph every room to document the contents. Burn it to a CD and give it to someone else or keep it at work. If you can't prove contents, then the insurance company will apply a factor to arrive at the value of your contents. THEIR factor = THEIR value, not yours. You don't realize how little an insurance company thinks of your clothes, and how valuable your clothes are until you have to go out and re-buy them.

Bill