Restoration of Your Home or Business after A Devastating Fire

6/19/2017 (Permalink)

Restoration of Your Home or Business after A Devastating Fire

Among all possible disasters that can befall property owners, fires are among the most devastating. In addition to physical fire damage, property owners are also left emotionally distressed.

Fire damage restoration and fire cleanup takes considerably less time when a property owner works with qualified and experienced contractors than it takes working on the home on their own. Important to note is that it takes proper planning to hire the right contractors to repair commercial fire damage or fire in home damage. A typical case that requires fire damage restoration is a massive fire in business. In such a case, smoke typically spreads throughout the building leaving drywall stained and saturated. Depending on the extent of the fire damage, the drywall will require thorough, rigorous cleaning or removal and replacement.

The structural integrity of the building may also need to be assessed. In cases such as these, property owners are advised to hire experienced fire damage restoration contractors with a team of well-trained professionals to evaluate the fire in home or fire in business and determine what needs repair. Where property owners choose to undertake the fire cleanup on their own, they are still advised to seek the advice from professional commercial fire damage cleanup companies to ensure repairs are done the right way.

Sealing breaches

As soon as fire officials allow property owners back into their property after a commercial fire damage, the first step of fire cleanup is checking for breaches. Examples of breaches include missing wall or roof sections that leave the interior of the property exposed to the elements. Immediate action needs to be taken to seal the breaches after a fire in business.

Failure to seal breaches immediately can lead to two problems. First, secondary fires can occur when the wind causes a flare up of embers. Firefighters work hard to extinguish the fire in business, but may at times they cannot save everything. Second, rain and humidity can find their way into the structure resulting in decay, mold, and further damage to electronics.

Breaches caused by an in home fire damage are effectively sealed, and the elements kept out by placing a tarp over them. The tarp needs to be attached and made of sturdy material to ensure effective sealing. Additionally, it needs to be adequately supported to prevent rainwater from pooling and to weigh it down.

Repair of soot damage and elimination of smoke smell
Property owners need to repair soot damage to allow accurate assessment of commercial fire damage to items during fire cleanup. That way, they can determine what items to restore and the things to throw away if they are unnecessary. Soot damage can be particularly challenging to clean because it usually has a greasy base that is formed when plastic is burned. Instead of using regular cleaning agents, property owners are advised to use trisodium phosphate cleaner, which is effective at cleaning soot damage.

Even if trisodium phosphate is effective in clearing soot, it won’t remove all the smoke smell and repair smoke damage. Vinegar is known for killing odors and using it to wipe down areas affected by smoke damage helps to eliminate the smell of the smoke. It is advisable to wipe down the ceiling, walls, and floor to permanently eliminate the smoke smell.

It is likely that all the filters in the HVAC systems of the property have considerable smoke damage, so they need to be replaced after a fire in home damage. Depending on the extent of the smoke damage, property owners have to undertake rigorous cleaning of all the ducts or replace them altogether. Property owners who fail to replace filters and clean or replace air ducts run the risk of having smoke smell reintroduced into the property when the HVAC system is operating.

Visit http://www.SERVPROclearlake.com for more information on fire damage.