What Fire Damage Restoration Contractors Can Do For Your Fire Damaged Home

Dealing with the aftermath of a fire in your home, no matter its cause, is a very stressful situation. From not knowing how much structural damage has been done to how many of your prized personal and family treasures have been irreversibly damaged, you may have a lot on your mind; however, one of your first calls after the firefighters are done, and your insurance company has been contacted, should be to a fire damage restoration contractor. They’ll assess the situation and help get your home back into a liveable condition. What do fire damage restoration contractors do exactly?

Verify the Safety of the Building

One of the first jobs of fire damage restoration contractors, when they get onto the scene of a fire, whether it is a residential, commercial, or industrial building, is to inspect the entire building, from top to bottom, to verify that all of the fire risks have been dealt with and determine which locations need immediate attention. While fire does a lot of damage in a building, the smoke can do even more damage, and it can continue to damage the building after the fire has been extinguished. By determining where smoke is built up and trapped, they can begin to ventilate the building with high powered fans to reduce the risk of further smoke damage. As well, soot left by the fire needs to be cleaned up right away or it can also result in further damage.

Dealing with Furniture and Personal Belongings

Not everything gets destroyed in many fires, especially if it has been extinguished in time by the fire department. Fire damage restoration contractors are there to help reduce the amount of items that need to be thrown out. They will go through your home taking photos and written logs of everything they find, and they will remove what is necessary. Anything they are able to clean up and restore (or that was undamaged), they will return to you after the structure has been restored.

Restoring Your Home

Once all your belongings are out of the way, the restoration contractors will get to work cleaning every surface of the building and tearing out fire and smoke-damaged structural components (drywall, etc.). As well, they will do a deep cleaning of any HVAC system you may have, including replacing filters, equipment, and scrubbing out ducts. When they are done, you’ll have a clean home that is safe to live in again, with no risk of lung damage from tainted air.

Fire may also bring other issues to the forefront that the contractors will deal with. If you had asbestos exposed by the fire, they will perform safe remediation of the material. As well, if any of your wall paints were lead-based, they will make sure it is safely removed.

Restoring your home after a fire is a complicated process, and attempting to deal with it yourself is not likely to turn out very well. Hidden dangers behind walls, in HVAC systems, and throughout other aspects can result in health hazards in the future, if it is not dealt with properly. Minimize the risk to you and your family by bringing in professional fire damage restoration contractors.