Recent Fire Damage Posts

Our Experts Will Eliminate Smoke Odors To Your Stafford Home

9/4/2019 (Permalink)

Our swift response will prevent further damage and lower your restoration costs. We are available 24/7 to offer expertise, training, and equipment.

Important Aspects of Light, Moderate, and Heavy Smoke Damage to Homes in Stafford

Living through a house fire can become a long-term stressful event for a family in Stafford. Part of the problem involves strong and unpleasant odors that can often affect every area of the house. When the weather turns hot and humid, these odors quickly seem much more noticeable. Because this happens with almost every fire, SERVPRO provides deodorization methods that fit a range of situations.

Any size fire in your Stafford home causes fire damage. While fires that burned organic substance like wood or paper smell less offensive than those involving plastics or other synthetic materials, burnt food seems highly offensive and bothersome.

Light Smoke Damage

Light smoke damage might come from a smoker in the home who used only one room, perhaps an enclosed patio, in which to light up and smoke cigarettes. Regular use of candles in a bedroom or bathroom could also build up smoke residues on walls and ceilings. Other times, a small fire that you put out soon after it started can leave a room full of smokey haze that quickly adheres to surfaces. Cleaning the surfaces often suffices in such situations, but we always make sure you find the results satisfactory before considering the work complete.

Moderate Smoke Damage

This degree of smoke and fire damage often requires our building crew to remove charred materials. Cleaning out burned belongings and other objects also removes a large amount of the odor's cause. We use a fogging system with a cinnamon scent to permeate areas beyond this. An air scrubber can help, as well, in removing particles currently in the air.

Heavy Smoke Damage

This often happens when furniture and other furnishings become heavily saturated with smoke and ash. We clean these and then place them in an ozone chamber. Untreated beams in walls often release soot particles even after rebuilding walls, so we ensure these get treated with effective sealers before installing new drywall. Anything charred needs removed and replaced – this includes warping and bubbling of surfaces.

In General

We clean these areas by stripping soot and oily residues from walls with a gentle cleaning agent on sponges. After cleaning hard surfaces, we check again for the strength of the odors. When we find enclosed spaces that harbor soot and continue to release odors, we use thermal fogging to neutralize the residue. For the most challenging odors, we use long-lasting scented beads, placed in a shallow pan, in inaccessible areas or gel-packs to eliminate the scents coming from the last remaining bits of soot. Our building services crew under Residential Contractor License # 2705165256 checks the HVAC system and performs any cleaning required to eliminate odors.

SERVPRO of North Stafford County is ready to help you eliminate smoke odors from your property. Residents in Roseville, Aquia Harbor, and Widewater Beach can depend on the professionals from the initial phone call to (540) 720-1535 to the conclusion of any restoration work. We promise to make it “Like it never even happened.”

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Fire Damage Remediation in Stafford: Should You Use Professionals or DIY?

7/18/2019 (Permalink)

It is tempting to want to make fire remediation a DIY if the fire is small. But you need the correct equipment and cleaners to complete the job.

What Tools Professionals Use for Fire Loss in Stafford Homes 

Fire recovery can take many different forms for Stafford homes, and more specifically, for those homeowners working on trying and overcoming loss effects on their own. It is not impossible for property owners to restore fire loss damages without training and restoration experience, but having the right equipment is essential. The more prepared you can be for these disasters, the less likely they are to spread and get completely out of control. 

Fire damage in Stafford homes can appear in many different ways from soot and smoke residues to air quality concerns, structural compromise, and degradation. Addressing even one of these challenges can be difficult without the appropriate equipment and tools that can help. Our SERVPRO technicians arrive at every fire loss emergency with the full measure of our mitigation and recovery tools, products, and devices. We know how important it is to get the situation contained and displaced families back in the property, so there is no delay in getting cleanup and restoration started. 

Recovery for these emergencies is multi-faceted and should often get completed by competent and qualified professionals like our SERVPRO team.  Here are some of the tools that can help you to make a positive difference quickly in your fire-damaged home: 

  • Thermal/UV Fogger – These vital tools can help to immediately address odor concerns, even in soft materials like clothing and fabrics. These machines release a dense chemical compound that breaks apart foul odor molecules on contact. 
  • Chemical Sponges – These cleaning implements are vital for clearing away soot and smoke residues (wet smoke) after a loss incident. Traditional cleaning methods can lead to smearing and staining of this coating. 
  • Hydroxyl Generators – These machines are two-fold by both helping to filter out a substantial amount of hazardous debris and particulates from the air inside of your home and working also to address lingering odor concerns as well. 

Whether you choose to handle fire loss effects on your own or seek the experience of our SERVPRO of North Stafford County team, we are always available. Call us at (540) 720-1535.

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