Watching a fire engulf your home can be a traumatic experience that leaves you with your belongings completely ravaged not only by the fire, but also by the water used to extinguish it. In such a situation, you should call upon your local restoration firm in Norristown, PA to immediately start fire damage restoration so that further damage can be prevented and your valuable belongings can be salvaged.
With this in mind, in this post we will look at some of the important restoration tasks that are performed in the wake of a fire to save your things from becoming unusable.
Important Restoration Tasks After a Fire
- Cleaning Clothing
Restoration professionals generally use a cleaning solution comprised of trisodium phosphate, chlorine bleach, or lysol and warm water to wash out soot and to remove the smoke odor from clothes. To remove mildew, the stains are washed using water and soap and then the clothes are dried in the sun. If the stain remains after that, a diluted chlorine bleach solution or lemon juice with salt can be used.
- Cleaning Books and Leather
- Leather Items: Leather goods are first wiped using a damp cloth and then with a dry cloth. Restorers also make sure that leather items are not dried directly in the sun. After the leather items have fully dried, they are cleaned using saddle soap.
- Books: The restoration of books involves drying them standing on one end, then piling and pressing them to prevent the crinkling of pages. The procedure to dry and press books is done in a cyclic manner so that mildew growth can be prevented.
- Salvaging Photographs
If the photographs have not been burned in the fire, restoration firms will usually be able to save them. They will soak the photographs in clean water and then carefully rinse them.
This allows the photos to slowly separate from each other on their own. However, if the photos remain damp, they can become damaged due to mold. Thus, the next step involves drying the photographs with the image side up over a smooth surface such as a kitchen counter or glass table.
- Cleaning Wooden Furniture
Restoration technicians will make sure that wooden furniture is not dried directly under the sun, since this can resulting in the warping of the wood. If mold growth is evident, the wood is wiped using a cloth soaked in a solution containing borax and hot water. If there are white spots, restoration professionals use a solution containing water and household ammonia to clean the surface.
If you’re trying to recover from a fire and you’re looking for assistance with fire damage restoration in Norristown, PA, you can call upon ServiceMaster Professional Cleaning and Restoration.
We have several years of experience with fire damage restoration tasks and our trained and certified restorers have performed restoration services on homes with significant fire damage. Just give us a call on our emergency customer support number at 610.354.9909 and we will send a team of expert restorers to analyze the extent of damage and start recovery work.