Is There a Way to Save the Smoke and Soot Damaged Contents in My Cutler Bay House?

5/20/2020 (Permalink)

Fires damage not only the structure, but the contents of your home. SERVPRO can clean and restore your home to its preloss condition.

SERVPRO Offers the Cutler Bay Community Unique Restoration Resources for Fire Damaged Household Goods and Personal Possessions  

The smoke and soot generated during a residential fire attach to the surfaces throughout your home, and deposits on a broad range of furnishings, household goods, and products, and personal possessions. In addition to the smoke and soot, the contents of your Cutler Bay home suffer chemical and water damage during firefighting efforts. 

Will My Insurance Pay for Restoration of My Household Belongings? 

The fire damage to your Cutler Bay home is distressing. Still, the training and equipment our managers and technicians possess allow us to take the steps necessary to return the structural components to preloss conditions, claims typically covered by homeowner's insurance. Can you take heart about your carrier, also including support for the many non-structural items also damaged by the fire? Detailed documentation about the condition of the articles immediately after the blaze and the results gathered throughout the restoration process give you the best chance to limit out-of-pocket expenses.

Should Fire Damaged Contents Be Removed for Processing? 

It is chaotic after a significant disaster like a fire. Are there reasons to consider delegating the management of fire damaged household contents to our professionals? SERVPRO can take on the responsibility to pack out some or most of your possessions during fire damage mitigation and remediation. 

Cease the Item's Exposure to Residues 

Some of the smoke and soot that cause the bulk of damage are still airborne, continuing to add to the residue load on every surface available, including the potential pack-out items. Moving them out of the Cutler Bay fire-damaged structure halts, or mitigates, the risk of additional corrosive deterioration. 

Concentrate on Assessment and Restoration of the Goods 

Away from the hustle and bustle of the fire restoration action inside your home, technicians who specialize in contents restoration can put the spotlight on the damaged items that make your house a home. We assess and plan for cleaning, drying, and restoration, our goal to return them to their former function and appearance. 

Clear the Structure for Restoration Activities 

With furniture and other items out of the way, the Fire and Smoke Restoration Technicians (FSRT) on our team can focus on water removal and cleaning of the hundreds of soiled surfaces inside your home. A pack-out gives us more room to work, but it also removes sources of water, humidity, odor, and additional residue. We no longer have concerns about moving and protecting the items now that they are in a secure place.  

Will My Possessions Be Safe and Secure? 

Emotions run high in the aftermath of a fire, and the worry of losing costly, familiar, and treasured is a constant. To set your mind at ease, we use the Contents Claim Inventory Service (CCIS) to track the furnishings, household goods, documents, photos, clothing, electronics, and other personal possessions we pack-out.   

Are All Items Inventoried? 

We use a combination of traditional cataloging and modern technology to clarify and track what we pack-out. We provide the basis for our restoration efforts and documentation for your insurance company: 

• Lists
• Digital pictures
• Barcoding 

Can I Have Access to Items as I Need Them? 

It is tough to predict when you might need a document, or the weather requires a seasonal change of clothing or footwear. We process your items as quickly as possible, and the CCIS checklists help us find requested personal property quickly.  

Clothing 

As we pack-out, we suggest you sort clothing into categories we can clean, dry, and deodorize in an order designed to avoid needless replacement expense: 

• Items you need for immediate daily wear
• Seasonal items 
• Specialty items like formal wear, uniforms, and sports equipment 

Documents 

You can direct the packing of essential documents where you prioritize to help us start with the paperwork you predict you might need to access. We can clean, freeze-dry (the innovative method used to recover papers and photos from firefighting water damage), and store documents and photos in an organized manner. We can then retrieve a paper for you or scan, photograph, or copy it for your immediate reference. 

How Are Larger Items Managed in a Pack-Out? 

Furniture and appliances are pack-out possibilities. If their damage is cosmetic or minimal, we clean them up and store them in our climate-controlled warehouse. More intensive cleaning, disinfection, drying, and deodorization is best handled in smaller chambers within our facility, preventing debris and odors' drift during processing.  

How can SERVPRO of Cutler Bay bring order out of the chaos after your residential fire? One call to (305) 278-8484 can begin the process to clarify and show how we can provide the services you need.