We never know when we receive a claim just what will be involved.
Here in Seattle we are handling mostly losses resulting from the weight of ice and snow. The claims range from collapsed anything that can collapse: canopies, barns, carports, gutter, and so forth. Unfortunately, here snow is still on the ground and roofs in the foothills so inspecting can be a challenge
Recently Justin and I inspected a claim in the mountains outside of Seattle. The barn had collapsed. We didn’t think much about it until we got to the home and then saw the barn down the hill from the home. A road ran from the insured’s house down the hill and then up another hill to a neighbor’s home. The barn was off the road a couple hundred feet to our right in the valley between the homes.
There was about 2’ of snow on the ground and when we stepped on the snow we sank into it. Fortunately the neighbor had plowed a path in order for us to get closer to the barn for a short way.
Sure enough the barn had completely collapsed. As we started walking out Justin and I thought about how we were going to trudge through the snow in order to measure this barn. He then remembered that Dale had left some boards in the back of the truck for leveling the RV which we didn’t use. Justin walked back to the truck and picked up the 3 boards.
Justin put the boards down in the snow in a row, stepped on one then the other, then picked up the rear board and threw it out in the front and stepped on it. He did that all the way to the barn and was able to measure the barn. We coined the technique “the poor man’s snow shoes”. If only he’d had a bungee cord he could have strapped on those boards.
We measured the barn, took our photos and went on our way, freezing cold but glad to have completed that task.
Here in Seattle we are handling mostly losses resulting from the weight of ice and snow. The claims range from collapsed anything that can collapse: canopies, barns, carports, gutter, and so forth. Unfortunately, here snow is still on the ground and roofs in the foothills so inspecting can be a challenge
Recently Justin and I inspected a claim in the mountains outside of Seattle. The barn had collapsed. We didn’t think much about it until we got to the home and then saw the barn down the hill from the home. A road ran from the insured’s house down the hill and then up another hill to a neighbor’s home. The barn was off the road a couple hundred feet to our right in the valley between the homes.
There was about 2’ of snow on the ground and when we stepped on the snow we sank into it. Fortunately the neighbor had plowed a path in order for us to get closer to the barn for a short way.
Sure enough the barn had completely collapsed. As we started walking out Justin and I thought about how we were going to trudge through the snow in order to measure this barn. He then remembered that Dale had left some boards in the back of the truck for leveling the RV which we didn’t use. Justin walked back to the truck and picked up the 3 boards.
Justin put the boards down in the snow in a row, stepped on one then the other, then picked up the rear board and threw it out in the front and stepped on it. He did that all the way to the barn and was able to measure the barn. We coined the technique “the poor man’s snow shoes”. If only he’d had a bungee cord he could have strapped on those boards.
We measured the barn, took our photos and went on our way, freezing cold but glad to have completed that task.
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