Unless a house completely burns to the ground from a fire, it’s possible to clean and restore some structures. Homeowner’s insurance policies will pay for companies to do the hard work of cleaning and rebuilding your house after disasters like fires. Here is what they do to make your home livable again.
Inspect the House
The first step in the restoration process involves inspecting the house to check the stability of the structure. If no one can enter the home safely, then the house may not be salvageable. All rooms undergo testing for smoke and soot damage.
The company will also take photos and document the damage to send to the owner’s insurance company. Then they will do a test cleaning to determine the damage in each room. The test cleaning will also help the company determine what to use to clean each room.
Prevent Contaminants from Spreading
Before the home undergoes an inspection, the homeowner should turn off the HVAC system to prevent more contaminants from being spread throughout the house. Also, they can set out coffee grounds around the house to absorb some of the odors from the fire.
Inventory of Possessions
A fire restoration company will begin to inventory the items that have fire damage with the help from the homeowners. The owners of the house should also inform the company about valuables and about other things that they want back right away. While homeowners can help when removing items and doing an inventory of their possessions, they should let the restoration company do most of the work. A good place to find a restoration company is online. Read restoration company websites, like metrowiderestoration.com, to get information about them.
Repairing the Damage
While restoration companies can repair most of the damage to a home, there may be some things they cannot do. If this is the case, then the homeowners will need to find a good general contractor to repair major fire damage. In addition, the restoration company will try to contain the damage from a fire to the area where it happened. Containment includes preventing smoke and other odors from spreading throughout the house.
Finishing the Restoration
Once the clean-up and repairs by the restoration are complete, the homeowners and the company should agree on the company’s quality of work. If necessary, the company can order an air quality test to satisfy the owners that all the contaminants are gone, and the air is safe for them to breathe. If the house needs some construction work to replace part of the home’s structure, then a contractor will be responsible for carrying out the work.
After they complete their projects, then the homeowners can inspect their work to ensure everything looks good before signing off on what they did. Completely cleaning, restoring, and repairing a house may take several weeks or months, which could mean relocating to temporary housing. Fortunately, that expense is part of a homeowner’s policy, and any money the family needs to pay upfront will be reimbursed to them by the insurance company.
It’s great to know from your article that a good place to find smoke damage restoration services is online. I had no idea that after inspecting the house, the homeowner must turn off the HVAC system to prevent contaminants from spreading. Although we haven’t experienced any fire at home yet, it’s better to be prepared and aware of these things.