Well, it's done. There are a few items remaining on the property that we need a truck for, but yesterday was my last trip to this house. (Ben and his friends will be removing those items next weekend.) The restoration companies (one for hard goods, one for clothing and linens) came out earlier this week and inventoried, packed, and removed everything that was salvageable from the house. The contents will be cleaned and restored and returned to us wherever we eventually resettle.
We hit the place after they had finished Wednesday evening and retrieved anything else we wanted to keep that they had deemed unsalvageable. For instance, they took the vast majority of my books but curiously left others that were completely undamaged.
We are somewhat fortunate in that with my anal-retentiveness, I'd scanned and saved receipts from many of our big-ticket items which will make getting money out of the insurance company that much easier.
Lately the most common phrase to leave my lips is "Fuck James." (James being our landlord whose negligence while sweating the water lines to the new water heater caused this disaster.) Every time I have to buy something that didn't need to be bought, every time I have to throw myself out into public after nine months of COVID isolation, I mutter "Fuck James."
All this could've been prevented if he'd only used a heat shield up against the wood when he was welding.
To be honest, there were a lot of things we grew to dislike about this house; little annoyances cropped up over the years that became sort of a running joke. (Like for example who puts the refrigerator directly opposite the stove, preventing two people from working in the kitchen at the same time?) Counter space was abysmal; the bathroom horrifically small. And the back yard…don't even get me started.
But it was still home.
Feeling your pain. We lost our home in August in one of the wildfires. As a "total loss" if we want to collect the full contents coverage we have to list everything that was lost or just settle for 75% as if that can replace everything. I guess they figure that the 25% is the crap you didn't care about and won't replace anyway. Have you considered legal action against the landlord? His obvious negligence is the direct cause of your loss. At a minimum, his property owner's insurance should kick in.