What is a contents pack-out?

A pack-out is the professional removal of your belongings from a home damaged by water, fire, smoke, or mold — photographed and inventoried item by item, transported to a secure facility for cleaning and storage, and returned when your home is restored. The documentation is what separates a pack-out from a move: every item is accounted for from your door to the vault and back.

What can actually be saved after fire or water damage?

More than most people expect. Hard goods (furniture, kitchenware, fixtures) clean and restore well; textiles respond to restoration laundering and deodorization; wet documents and photos can often be recovered if they're stabilized quickly. The honest answer varies item by item — which is why we assess and document each one rather than quoting a percentage.

Does homeowners insurance cover a pack-out?

Generally yes — when the underlying loss is covered, pack-out, contents cleaning, storage, and pack-back are paid under the personal property portion of your policy, known as Coverage C. Your policy's contents limit and deductible apply, and your adjuster confirms coverage for the specific loss.

What happens to items that can't be saved?

They're photographed, listed on a separate total-loss schedule with descriptions and condition notes, and held until your carrier releases them — nothing is discarded unilaterally. That schedule is what your carrier uses to pay replacement value, so its thoroughness directly affects your settlement.

Can I get something out of storage mid-claim?

Yes. Call with what you need; the barcode manifest locates the exact container, and we pull, photograph, and deliver the item or hold it for pickup. Retrieval is a lookup, not an excavation.

Contents pack-out · inventory · restoration — LA & Orange County

Every item.
Accounted for.

When water, fire, or smoke puts you out of your home, everything you own needs somewhere safe to go — and a record proving where it went. We photograph, inventory, clean, store, and return your belongings, with documentation your insurance adjuster can build a claim on.

(562) 246-9908 Get a quote

Answered 24/7 · 60–90 minute emergency response

Contents inventory — samplePage 04 / 18

Sample rows from a contents inventory: item, room, and status
LB-0214	Dining table, walnut, 72"Dining	Restored
LB-0215	Family photographs (3 albums)Den	Stabilized
LB-0216	Sofa, sectional, 4 pcLiving	In cleaning
LB-0217	China service for 12Dining	Vaulted
LB-0218	Oil painting, framed, 30×40Hall	Condition rpt.

Photographed · barcoded · tracked№ 2424

IICRC Certified Firm #59366100
FMCSA DOT #3887754
CSLB License #1049188 (B · C36)
CPUC Household Goods Permit
EPA Lead-Safe Firm #NAT-F308130-1
BBB Accredited A+

The process

How a pack-out works

Five steps, one unbroken record. From the first photograph to your signature at pack-back, every item moves inside a documented chain of custody.

Scope with the adjuster
We walk the loss with you (or your adjuster's scope) and agree on what moves, what's cleaned on-site, and what's documented as non-salvageable before a single box is packed.
Photograph and inventory
Every item is photographed in place, condition-noted, and logged to a room-by-room digital inventory with barcode tracking — before it's wrapped.
Pack and transport
Trained crews wrap, box, and load by room, on our own trucks under our own FMCSA DOT authority. When a piece needs a specialist — a piano, a large appliance — we bring in licensed, insured handlers and keep it on the same documented chain of custody.
Store under climate control
Contents arrive at our Signal Hill facility, are checked in against the inventory, and stored in sealed, climate-controlled vaults until your home is ready.
Return and place
When restoration is complete, we deliver everything back, place it room by room, and close out the inventory with your sign-off.

New to this? Start with the pack-out FAQor call us and we'll walk you through what happens next.

Why it matters

Documentation is the product

Anyone can carry boxes. A contents claim lives or dies on the record: what existed, what condition it was in, what it's worth, and where it is right now.

Photographed at origin
Every item is photographed in place, before it's wrapped — timestamped evidence of condition the day of the loss.
Barcoded and tracked
From your living room to the vault and back — ask where any single item is, at any point in the claim, and we can answer.
Xactimate-ready for the adjuster
Inventories arrive formatted for the platform carriers already use — no re-keying, no disputes over a shoebox of receipts.

Contents inventory — samplePage 04 / 18

Sample rows from a contents inventory: item, room, and status
LB-0214	Dining table, walnut, 72"Dining	Restored
LB-0215	Family photographs (3 albums)Den	Stabilized
LB-0216	Sofa, sectional, 4 pcLiving	In cleaning
LB-0217	China service for 12Dining	Vaulted
LB-0218	Oil painting, framed, 30×40Hall	Condition rpt.

Photographed · barcoded · tracked№ 2424

Services

Eight services. One accountable record.

From the emergency pack-out to the day everything comes home — each service feeds the same inventory, so nothing falls between vendors.

All services

Emergency Pack-Out

An emergency pack-out is the rapid, documented removal of your belongings from a home damaged by water, fire, or smoke.

Emergency Pack-Out

Inventory & Total-Loss

A contents inventory is the itemized, photographed record of everything a loss touched.

Contents Inventory & Total-Loss Documentation

Soft Contents

Soft contents cleaning is the specialized restoration of textiles.

Soft Contents Cleaning

Hard Contents

Hard contents cleaning is the restoration of non-porous and semi-porous belongings.

Hard Contents Cleaning

Documents & Photos

Document and photo restoration recovers the irreplaceable paper in your life.

Document & Photo Restoration

Art & Antiques

An art and antique pack-out applies registrar-grade handling to the highest-value contents in a loss: fine art, antiques, heirlooms, collections, and designer furnishings.

Art & Antique Pack-Out

Storage

Climate-controlled contents storage holds your belongings safely for the months a restoration takes.

Climate-Controlled Contents Storage

Pack-Back

Pack-back is the return leg of a contents claim: your cleaned and restored belongings come out of storage, travel home, and are unpacked and placed room by room.

Pack-Back & Return

The Save The Day family

One family for the whole loss

Contents by Save The Day is the dedicated contents division of Save The Day Restoration — one of three sister companies under Yanonis Enterprises. Between us, a single call covers the whole problem: the leak that caused it, the structure it damaged, and the belongings inside.

24/7 water, fire & mold restoration — structural mitigation and reconstruction across LA & OC. We're the dedicated contents division of this team.

Visit savethedayrestoration.com

Licensed plumbers on call 24/7 — drain cleaning, water heaters, repairs, and the burst pipes and leaks that start most water losses in the first place.

Visit plumbingsquad.com

Service areas