Preventing Water and Fire Damage to Your Documents

It does not matter if you are single, married, divorced, with children or without, you have documents in your home that carry your legal life on their pages. We all have a number of different legal and binding documents that we need to keep safe, but most of us simply put these in a drawer or in a plastic bin of some kind or perhaps even a simple manila folder. No matter which of these that you choose, your documents are not really safe from anything. Bank statements, binding contracts, past tax records, homeowner’s insurance policies, life insurance, health insurance, and many, many other documents that you may have in that area are not protected from natural disasters such as fires or floods. Think of what would happen if you were to lose these. What kind of legal trouble could you be in if you could not find some of these?

The answer to this is a waterproof and fireproof safe. No matter what disaster strikes your home, you will need to have a copy of your homeowner’s insurance and you will want to be sure that it is safe. The only real way to do this is to have a safe that is capable of withstanding these kinds of events. Even though most water damaged papers can be saved, most fire damaged papers cannot be, simply because there is often not enough of them left to save. Unless the fire is a light one and you are able to get to the items before they catch it, odds are good that they will be lost.

All kinds of nasty things lurk in flood waters and you really do not want to have to handle these papers when they are possibly contaminated with all kinds of bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and even sewage. You will have to throw away most items that become contaminated with these things, since they will be very difficult to clean.

Having a fireproof and waterproof safe will not only protect your papers from fire and floods, but also from mold growth. Mold often starts to grow on papers that have been moist for over 48 hours or even less and this growth will eat them.

You may not be able to prevent water or fire damage in the majority of the rest of your home, but your documents will be kept safe. Consider purchasing a safe to hold your documents in, just in case the unthinkable happens.



Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Water Damage Restoration and other states such as
New Jersey Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.