What are the Stages of Professional Fire Damage Cleanup Services for My Haddon Heights Home?

7/9/2020 (Permalink)

Let SERVPRO help you through the smoke of your Haddon Heights home.

SERVPRO techs can perform any size fire loss cleanup and restoration in your Haddon Heights home

After a fire happens, there is always a need for cleanup. Even a small-scale fire can leave behind smoke residues and strong odors. If repairs happen, the odors can remain within the property and spread via foot traffic or the ductwork in the home to areas where no damage occurred whatsoever. That is why it is essential to engage professional services to handle fire loss and ensure the odorous particulate gets neutralized. Hence, it has zero potential to affect any other part of your Haddon Heights home. The standard methodology goes like this:  

• Removal of charred items and building materials that are a loss
• Extraction of water used for extinguishing the fire
• Testing and removal of smoke residues
• Cleaning of restorable items and structural elements
• Odor control applications and preparing for repairs

After the Fire Damage Restoration Services, How Can I Make My Home Safer?

After fire damage restoration happens in your Haddon Heights property, one of the first thoughts many homeowners have is, "How can I avoid this situation again?"

Fortunately, there are many actions you can take to limit the future potential for fire loss in your home. While no property can be 100% insulated from fire occurring, some steps you can take to minimize it include:  

• Talk with your insurance agent about fireproofing methods that can work to benefit your homeowner's policy
• Replace mattresses manufactured before 2007 as they do not meet current fire safety standards
• Incorporate fire-resistant plants around your home such as French lavender, red monkeyflower or sage
• Invest in an environmental monitoring system that reports elevations in moisture or temperature
• Do monthly walkarounds and look for overloaded outlets and improper usage of extension cords

Do Spray-On Deodorizers Work to Remove Smoke Odors?

After the charred building materials and contents get removed, and the smoke residues get wiped away using the professional cleaning agents, some odors may remain. If this is the case, SERVPRO techs have a host of different applications to use within the structure to neutralize odors at the source. Over the counter, spray-on deodorizers may cover the smell for a short time, however until the soot particles get eliminated, the scent will continue to return over and over. 

From start to finish during this type of cleanup, it is common to see machines known as air scrubbers running. They capture airborne particles, including ones too small to be seen by the human eye and work to improve the overall air quality before the more robust odor control applications get applied as needed. 

The techs can inspect the ductwork throughout the home and determine if the smoke scent is resident and if the ductwork needs cleaning to render it odor-free. 

One of the most frequently turned-to methods is a thermal fogger. This small device uses a solvent that gets heated until it becomes a fog. The technician then releases it throughout areas where smoke odors remain. The fog works precisely as the air does during a fire. During a fire, hot air expands, and when it does, soot particles get pushed into porous items, making them difficult to remove. In many cases, the solvent pushing its way into a porous object and eradicating the soot particle at the molecular level is enough to eliminate on-site fire odors. 

Who Repairs My Home After a Fire?  

SERVPRO technicians are conscientious to work within the scope of insurance coverage and communicate with both the adjuster and homeowner to ensure nothing out of coverage gets performed. Once the restoration services complete, the crew chief goes over the mitigation efforts undertaken with the homeowner and/or the adjuster. They also make a note of any repairs or rebuilding that needs to occur to sufficiently bring the home to the same condition as before the fire happened. 

With their general contractor license #HIC #13VH01276600, the techs can offer reconstruction services that range from rebuilding gutted rooms to the installation of all types of flooring or painting over walls where sealant got applied to eliminate soot odor. Since finding a contractor to begin repairs can be a stressful activity, using one service for both the remediation and rebuilding is a smart move because it saves time, and the techs already know exactly what needs to get repaired. 

When your home needs fire damage restoration, do not hesitate to contact SERVPRO of Haddon Heights / Voorhees at (856) 566-3388. The certified technician has comprehensive training handling all types of fire loss and restoring your home and contents to their preloss condition using their advanced equipment and cleaning method.