Cleaning Fire Damage In Nashville Homes

2/19/2018 (Permalink)

Fire Damage Restoration

Every Nashville house fire is different. The amount of heat, open flames, and smoke present all depend on what burned and the amount of oxygen available to the fire. These two factors determine a third one, how hot the house burned. Together, they determine the type and amount of smoke residue and what methods are needed to clean and remove them.

Since smoke residue makes up much of the fire damage, Nashville homes suffer, SERVPRO has developed an extensive number of methods to remove it. Between them, we can restore lost property to its original state if it is otherwise physically undamaged.

Dry Cleaning is our first approach. The majority of residues after a fire are powdery and is considered light-to-medium contamination. Our restoration teams can clean this type off the property and structural surfaces with dry cloths or sponges. If the layer is very thick, we may use a commercial-grade vacuum cleaner.

Wet Cleaning is next, and we use it for medium-to-heavy residues. These usually contain some moisture and are a little sticky. Team members use water to dampen the same cloths and sponges before use. For a stickier residue, we use a mild cleaner and repeat until the surface is residue-free.

Spray and Wipe is the method we prefer for wood surfaces and upholstered furniture. Too much moisture can damage these surfaces, and this gives us better control over the amount we use. SERVPRO technicians apply either water or a cleaner using a spray bottle to the surface and then clean off the residue with a cloth.

For more delicate fabrics, we use Foam Cleaning. It is very good to prevent colors from fading or if the fabric is at risk of shrinking with too much moisture. Team members use a pump-up sprayer to force air into a bottle of cleaner or stir up a bucket of cleaner by hand. They then spray the foam or apply it by hand with a sponge or upholstery brush to the affected fabric.

Abrasive Cleaning we use only on items not easily damaged like brick or stone. It consists of a much stronger chemical cleaner and a scrubbing brush. For very deep surface grooves, we may need steel wool.

Finally, we use Immersion Cleaning when the residue is so thick that we cannot remove it by hand. We set the item inside a tank of cleaner at our offices and then use a sound wave generator to force cleaning bubbles across surfaces like window blinds. Depending on the thickness of the residue layer, it may take up to several hours to finish the task.

Fully restoring your home after a fire can take a few days or several weeks. SERVPRO of South Nashville understands the importance of returning your life to normal, so we work as quickly as possible to get you back into a clean, safe environment. Call us today at (615) 331-0200 to get started.

Visit https://www.nashville.gov/ for more about Nashville.