5 Fire Damage Restoration Tips

Fires are among the most devastating tragedies that can happen to any home or commercial business. In addition to structural issues, soot, debris, and even the water used to extinguish the fire can all cause extensive damage and require the assistance of a professional fire damage restoration service.

Even a minor fire can destroy everything you’ve worked hard to obtain over the years, and flames are only one aspect of the issue.

Luckily, your home, business, and valuable assets can be preserved if you act quickly.

In this article, we’ll discuss five fire damage restoration tips you can use in the event of a fire and why calling a fire damage restoration service can help you restore your property while preventing more damage to potentially salvageable belongings.

Continue reading below to learn more and find out how National Catastrophe Restoration, Inc. and our team of fire damage restoration technicians can help you lessen the impact of your loss.

5 Fire Damage Restoration Cleanup Tips

The consequences of a fire in any home or business are severe and, if not managed appropriately, can result in long-term problems for you, your employees, and your loved ones. Even if a fire is confined to a small area, other types of damage and risks can spread throughout your property.

Regardless of the extent of the damage, the cleanup process of fire damage can be inconvenient for any home or business owner. However, if you want to start the recovery process before the professionals arrive, here are five fire damage restoration tips to help you ensure the safety of yourself and others around you:

Call Your Insurance Agent

If you have not already called your insurance agent about the fire damage, your first step should be to notify your insurance agent or provider of the occurrence. Your insurance agent will be able to help you not only start the recovery process but also file a claim, restore your property, and replace any valuable items or assets.

One of the most critical steps in the claims process is the initial documentation of the damage to ensure you can replace everything impacted by the fire. As a result, keep meticulous records of all conversations with your insurance company and fire damage restoration providers in case you need to follow up or provide more information.

There will be a lot of information to keep track of when you begin the recovery process, such as what assets were in your house or office during the fire and any sensitive information that was lost. While making a list of all the items you lost in the fire may appear challenging and overwhelming, it is vital to write down as much comprehensive information as possible and keep it in one location.

Assess the Damage

Even if the fire only burned a piece of the home or facility, the entire structure must first be evaluated. Smoke, soot, and water can cause damage that extends beyond the burn area and jeopardize the safety of others and building integrity. As a result, a full assessment can help you determine how far the flames and smoke have permeated the structure and how extensive any cleanup process will be. Afterward, you should have a better understanding of the scope of work, how long it will take, and generate a total cost estimate.

During the assessment, be sure to inspect the amount of damage that was caused and determine which items appear to be damaged and which items can potentially be saved or restored. Additionally, a fire can cause structural damage to any structure, which means entering the property after a fire is exceedingly dangerous. To ensure the property is safe to enter, inspect your surroundings to determine its safety and look for any structural damage, exposed electrical cables, and weak points on the floors.

Remove Soot, Water, and Debris

Following your assessment, the next step is to secure the property, remove any standing water, and dry out the property to prevent future mold or corrosion damage. This component is one of the most time-consuming aspects of fire damage restoration.

This step often requires a significant amount of manual labor to clean soot and debris from internal and external surfaces effectively. In many circumstances, every square inch of the afflicted area must be cleaned to remove any standing water and dry out the property to prevent future mold or corrosion damage.

Additionally, smoke and gases pose a significant threat to your property even after the fire has been put out. As a result, don’t forget to open windows and doors as much as possible to ventilate the area and remove smoke and other potentially harmful debris particles. If possible, strategically place industrial fans throughout the property to circulate air as much as possible.

Secure Your Property

While you will be unable to stay in your house or conduct business in the days following the fire damage, you must protect your property as much as possible from both harsh weather and unlawful entry. Secure your property by barricading entrances and boarding up all windows, doors, or other openings to prevent further damage.

Cover any clean, untouched furniture with plastic wrap to preserve its integrity and prevent debris and particles from harming your items during the cleanup and restoration process. Additionally, be sure to notify your local police department that your property recently experienced fire damage, as they will be able to assist you in protecting your property from potential intruders while you are gone.

Contact a Professional Restoration Company

Finally, contacting a professional fire damage restoration company can significantly help to limit the fire’s damage and restore your home or commercial facility to its original state.

Restoration experts can not only guide you through the recovery process and advise you on the next steps, but they can also help you overcome any worries or concerns you may have about the future of your home or business. In some instances, the fire damage restoration service may be able to assist you in documenting the damage and detailing the extent of the damage throughout the entire property.

The initial efforts of the restoration company are crucial in preventing and reducing future damage to your home. The sooner you begin the fire damage restoration process, the easier it will be for a restoration company to inspect, evaluate, and respond to the fire damage.

Trust the Fire Damage Restoration Experts at NCRI to Handle Things For You

While it is hard to completely undo the damage that a fire can cause to your home or commercial business, even the most basic cleanup tips can make a significant difference. However, contacting a fire damage restoration company can help you get your home or business back in order quickly and safely.

At NCRI, we’re proud to specialize in a wide range of professional disaster restoration services for Wichita and Kansas City customers, and the surrounding communities.

We understand that a fire is a tragic situation, so we remain dedicated to providing professional fire damage restoration services to make the cleanup process as simple as possible. As a full-service disaster restoration company, you can trust that our team of highly-trained and certified restoration technicians will walk you through every step of the recovery and restoration process.

If you’ve suffered fire damage to your home or business, contact the fire damage restoration experts at NCRI today to learn more about how our fire restoration services can help you.