It may seem that after a house fire is put out that the building itself is in no further harms way, except for the obvious water damage clean up, and replacing the damaged building materials. Yet this is far from the true, the truth is that smoke damage will linger for years, unless treated by a professional. After any fire there will be smoke damage, which will have permeated all of your building materials. Smoke damage removal is no easy task and should never be attempted by a homeowner as a do it yourself project. For starters it requires a lot of manpower, secondly it also takes extensive knowledge to pull it off successfully. Many home owners have attempted to do smoke damage remediation on their own, and ended up only making matters worse.
If you want to save your home from further damage and destruction, consult with a professional smoke damage remediation expert. Long after the fire is put out, smoke damage will continue to make its presence known. Ash and smoke damage causes corrosion and rot to your homes building materials and contents. Not to mention it will leave a rather unpleasant odor behind that will linger on for years. This odor cannot be removed with common household cleaners, as these will only get some of the smoke and ash up, and will serve to at best temporarily mask the odors for a short time. Smoke damage can also cause discoloration in anything it touches, and this will only get worse as more time passes. Within mere minutes after a fire, plastics will discolor, and with in hours finishes on appliances will begin to yellow, and metals might even begin to corrode and tarnish. Yet all of this can be not only stopped, but reversed, if a professional is called quickly enough. The longer you wait to call, the lower the chances are that your building can be saved.
If you do decide to call in a professional, make sure that any company you deal with is IICRC certified. The IICRC stands for The Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification, and is the gold standard when it comes to smoke and fire damage restoration. This non-profit agency is an oversight agency and consumer advocate for property restoration. It takes extensive hours, course work and hands on experience to complete ones IICRC certification, so you can be assured that you are dealing with a knowledgeable and experienced professional.
Not only can a professional restore your building materials, they can also restore your personal possessions, provided that you get help right away! Your smoke damaged personal items and furniture will have to be removed, and taken to an offsite restoration facility. There your items will be treated to reverse the smoke and ash damage, then carefully returned to you.
ABC Fire and smoke damage restoration can not only halt the smoke damage and ash damage to your home and personal possessions, we can also reverse it. To ensure that we can save everything possible, be sure to contact us as soon as possible! Time is your worse enemy following a fire.
