The Ultimate Guide to Fire Damage Remediation in Your Vancouver Home

6/15/2019 (Permalink)

Fire damage remediation can be such a pain to handle alone. Contact the professionals at SERVPRO today for remediation assistance.

Fire Damage Cleanup is a Matching Process in Vancouver

After a fire moves through your Vancouver home, the residues left behind vary from space to space. Differences depend on the materials the fire consumed as fuel as it made its way from room to room and level to level. The characteristics of the soot determine the most efficient ways to remove the soiling from surfaces without creating even more damage. Our team of highly-qualified technicians have the knowledge and experience to evaluate each deposit and decide which cleaning method is best matched to particular soots.

Vancouver fire damage residues and debris can be loose and ashy where wood and dry paper burned. Vacuuming with HEPA-filtered equipment clears much of this dry soot after careful brushing. Dry sponging is effective on walls and ceilings with this kind of damage, but a damp or wet cleaning approach might smear and spread the soiling.  

When an electrical fire smolders behind walls, or fabric and damp materials choke the delivery of oxygen to a blaze, a thick and sticky soot deposits. Our SERVPRO crew uses a more hands-on approach with this type of residue, selecting a cleaner formulated using wetting agents and surfactants to break up the coating. Agitation is typically a strategy used to help dislodge the soot, with technicians working on small areas at a time, spraying, scrubbing, and wiping as they go.

Protein-based soot is a constant challenge in household fires, the result of a kitchen food or grease fire. The soot under these circumstances is a thin coating of almost varnish or lacquer-like consistency, tightly adhering to surfaces. SERVPRO employees might use tools or cleaners with abrasive characteristics to assist in removing this type of soot. Solvents are an option when applied by skilled practitioners.

The team we send to your home complete rigorous training from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) in preparation for residential fire damage management.  Our Fire and Smoke Restoration Technicians (FSRT) learn how to determine what kinds of soot your project presents and then apply research-based best industry practices to resolve the issues.   

SERVPRO of E. Vancouver / Clark Co. is well-positioned to respond to fire damage in communities north of the Columbia River and west of the Cascades. Call us at (360) 254-0049 for an expert assessment of your fire cleanup needs.

Click here to see more about Vancouver.