Exterior Wall Collapses On Denver Home, Insurance Denies Claim
DENVER (CBS4)- Part of a home collapsed in Denver's Sloan's Lake neighborhood and two weeks later, the interior of the home remains exposed. The entire back wall of the home is missing.
The owner, Shannon Swanson, moved into the 1890s-era home in 2013. Her fiancé, Stanley Walters, moved in last year.
"This is the first place that I walk in and it feels like a family lives here and people that love each other live here," Swanson said.
The couple was at home when it happened, Walters says it felt like an earthquake.
"I looked at her and said, 'Did our house just fall down?' We came downstairs and there was just cloud of dust," he said.
From the backyard you can see into the room where their children sleep. A bunk bed was backed up against the wall that is now missing.
"The one saving grace in all this is that I still get to hug my boys every night and my son wasn't home," said Swanson, who said she thinks it would have been terrifying if he had been.
While the cause of the collapse is still under investigation, Swanson says their insurance company has already denied their claim.
"They'll pay for nothing, this was our future and this is where we live and now we have no help at all," she said.
CBS4 reached out to Allstate, the family's insurance company for answers. A spokesperson says they cannot speak specifically on a customer's claim but provided a statement that in part reads: "Our claims team is committed to conducting a thorough investigation on all claims. Allstate is committed to paying what we owe as outlined in the customer's policy."
For the family, who says they relied on their agent for guidance on coverage, it's been nothing short of a nightmare.
"To have this all come crashing down, we have nothing. This is everything we have worked for and now we have no idea what we do," Swanson said fighting back tears.
A GoFundMe campaign has been posted to help the family.