Fire Damage In Your Chicago Home
12/29/2019 (Permalink)
Thorough Cleaning Effort Leaves Chicago Home Spotless After Fire Damage
A fire that only burned for a few minutes before it was contained left contents and surfaces in a Chicago home blackened with residue and charred material remnants. Luckily, the owner knows about the restoration services SERVPRO offers and informed us immediately so that we could take over the site from emergency services.
After scoping the fire damage site in Chicago, we realized minimal structural damages had occurred, but soiling was substantial, necessitating considerable cleaning efforts. Our SERVPRO technicians set the ball rolling by performing some critical steps to ensure the cleaning efforts would be fruitful.
• Identifying the soil types
• Identifying the surfaces
• Removing the dry soils
• Removing deeply embedded soils
• Drying the property
• Deodorizing
While most of the soils left by fire are black, they differ in many ways, including the level of penetration and other aspects such as oiliness or dryness. Our SERVPRO technicians identified the areas in the house where there were dry smoke residues so that we could use dry cleaning sponges to remove it. For areas with impinged residues, we used chemical action to remove the residues.
The house had different types of surfaces affected by soot and other smoke residues. The walls with glossy paint were easier to clean since we could wipe off residues easily with chemical sponges. Other surfaces, such as the interior parts of cabinets, where most of the smoke residues concentrated because of colder temperatures during the fire, would require a different approach because of the unfinished wood. Our SERVPRO technicians used denatured alcohol to remove all reside traces. Other wet cleaning procedures helped clean the walls, ceiling, and floors.
Once the cleaning was over, our crews started drying and deodorizing procedures immediately to prevent secondary problems such as mold development because of the excessive moisture left over from cleaning. We set up air movers and dehumidifiers in the wet areas to run for some hours, lowering the moisture levels that could lead to problems.
Seeing your property spotless in the aftermath of fire loss is highly reassuring. Call SERVPRO of Hyde Park / E. Bridgeport / Bronzeville at (312) 509-5000 to help. We’re Faster to Any Size Disaster.
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