WASHINGTON — Doing your homework insurance-wise can help with recovery if a storm, fire or other disaster ever damages your home.

“One of the very first things to do, before any disaster hits, is to put an inventory together,” said Mark McGillivray, senior vice president of claims for Allstate. “Get it as complete as you can.”

Making a list of possessions that include age and value will make the process “much smoother,” McGillivray said. And keep that record out of harm’s way. Allstate, for instance, has web and smartphone apps that can help you organize and store the information securely in the cloud.

Include in your inventory everything from furniture and rugs to dishware, electronics and jewelry — and document them with photos or video.

“Go through it room by room,” McGillivray said, to ensure that if something major were to happen, you’d get fully reimbursed for your home’s contents.

When insuring your home, realize the coverage and reimbursement are based on what it would cost to replace the structure versus what the home is worth.

“You don’t want to be overinsured by insuring at what you might be able to sell it for,” McGillivray said. “The cost to rebuild it could be quite a bit less.”