Posts Tagged ‘Soot and Odor Removal from Fire’

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Soot damage to a home effects on health

Friday, September 24th, 2010
A fire is often a traumatic event for a person, especially if one’s home or office is affected. However, what many people do not consider following a fire are the after-effects. The property in question may still be intact, but there may be a lot of soot to deal with. Dealing with such an issue is more than simply having a couch vacuumed or washing a rug. Instead, it means that you will have to call in a professional company to deal with all of the soot. The following are some of the major effects of having soot in a home.

Soot can ruin a home. It is incredibly hard to get rid of. This debris has been known to stay in a home for more than a decade, even with constant cleaning. This means that your home may not be the same if you do not enlist the help of experts who know how to rid a space of soot. You do not want your home to smell and look like soot months or years after a fire.

And of course, there are some serious health risks to having soot in a home. This is something that can affect a person’s breathing. If you or loved ones already have allergies and issues with asthma, this can make it nearly impossible to sleep at night. Additionally, soot is more than dirt: It can have harmful chemicals and pieces of glass in it, which is why you should take the time to rid your home or space of this. Talk to professionals and they can come in with the latest equipment and techniques to thoroughly clean your home.

Soot damage is a serious after effect of a fire, which is why it is important to really talk to professionals about cleaning up after a fire. Treat this seriously so that you do not put your loved ones’ health at danger or have to deal with the smell and look of soot in every nook and cranny of your home or office.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.comIn your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Furniture Restoration After a Fire is Possible

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
A house fire is a life altering event. If the owner or renter is lucky enough to have the house minimally damaged, there is still the aftermath. Insurance investigators will do their job once the claim is filed. When the claim is awarded, repair contractors must be hired. Most insurance covers personal belongings and furniture. Often, furniture is written off as a total loss because of the difficulties involved with removing smoke and soot from fabric. Most people will discard the damaged furnishings for this reason.

However, there are times when furniture can be restored and it is economical to do so. Quality and antique furniture may be impossible to replace. A lot of furniture sold now is just not as well-made as that made in the past. For instance, the frame of a sofa may be constructed from a lesser and lighter wood than the hardwoods used in the past. A dresser of yesterday may be all solid wood compared to modern dressers that often incorporate fiber board, paneling and veneers in their construction.

This is not a task for amateurs. Soot and smoke are toxic and contain cancer-causing carcinogens. The work can be tedious, which encourages a progressively sloppy effort. For these reasons, a professional water/ fire damage company should be hired to do the work. It must be done as soon as possible, because the longer the soot sits, the more it will sink in to the fabric or wood.

The restoration professionals have the tools and knowledge to repair furniture in the best manner possible. Each piece of furniture will be inspected to determine the proper course of action. Furniture can be cleaned, reupholstered, refinished and repaired as needed. Deodorization processes are able to remove the all-invasive smell of smoke. Furniture may require water removal techniques such as extraction and the application of desiccants. It will then be placed in dehumidified environment.

Cost is a major concern. Most fire restoration services will provide an estimate that compares the value of replacement with restoration. The consumer has a choice whether or not to restore fire and water damaged furniture. Many choose to save their furniture after learning that it is possible.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.comIn your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Smoke Odor Removal

Monday, August 30th, 2010
A fire on any scale can be a disastrous event, and often it is not just the fire damage itself that has to be dealt with. Cleaning up after a fire or accident that has left smoke or soot damage can be just as challenging as cleaning up the burned material. Smoke and soot have a tendency to penetrate many other rooms in a structure, often permeating things like furniture, drapes, clothing, and carpets. While vacuuming and wiping may help with the surface material, removing the smell usually proves to be the biggest challenge.

Removal of smoke and soot after a fire should always be left up to a professional, even in cases where the fire was small like a cooking accident. If the smoke and soot removal is not performed properly, there are real health risks that can arise. Smoke and soot are made up of fine particulates that float very easily when disturbed and are very easy to inhale. Some of these particulates come from toxic materials like burning plastics. An improperly cleaned piece of furniture, for instance, can become a source of smoke odor and respiratory irritants for many months after a fire.

Not all surfaces and materials can be cleaned of smoke odor in the same manner; some materials require specific chemicals and treatments to remove smoke odors and soot. Special techniques are needed for certain materials, particularly porous ones like concrete, masonry, drywall, and ceramic. These materials can absorb smoke odors and fine particles into walls, floors, and ceilings making them almost impossible to remove. Contacting an experienced professional in time can make the difference between salvage and reconstruction.

Relying on a professional for smoke odor removal also ensures that the items that can be saved, will be saved. Many times a professional can rescue furniture or other items that were considered a total loss. The chemicals and treatments used for smoke odor removal can also be hazardous if mishandled or used improperly, possibly posing health risks and making the situation worse.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.com

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Call One Company if You Have an Emergency

Friday, August 27th, 2010
People do not like to think that emergencies can happen to them, but ignoring the possibility does not prevent them from occurring. It is always best to be prepared and know what to do if you should find it necessary to deal with an unpleasant situation. When you have a plan in mind, it is easier to remain calm and reassure your family if you are faced with a disaster.

If fire, water or mold causes damage to your home, it may not be safe to live there until you get the damage repaired, so you will want restoration to begin as soon as possible. It is wise to have an arrangement with a reputable company in place, so that if an emergency occurs, one quick phone call will get the process started immediately. Large loss response capabilities allow a customer to call one company for large and small emergencies. An emergency is always traumatic, but a dependable restoration company can help you to get back in your home in a reasonable time, so the disruption of your family’s lives will not need to be any longer than necessary.

When you deal with experienced restoration experts, you can have the assurance of knowing that they will handle your valuable possessions with the utmost care and get your family back in your home as quickly as possible. They will know the correct process to use during the entire procedure so that all details are covered. For instance, if you have water damage, they must dry the area thoroughly to prevent mold from forming, and inspect electronic appliances and equipment to ensure that they are safe to use again.

It is better to be prepared for something that does not happen than for something to happen for which you are not prepared. When you are ready for possible emergencies, you can be stress free and know that you have done the best that you can to take care of your family in any situation. Like the insurance that we hope we will never need, we hope we will not need emergency recovery services, but if we need either, we will be thankful that we took the necessary steps to have them.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.com

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Cleaning Soot from Porous and Non-Porous Items

Friday, August 20th, 2010
Cleaning soot from porous and non-porous items is a major task. Soot is a result of the incomplete combustion of wood, coal, diesel oil or other materials. Soot is normally found in the form of a black powdery substance consisting mainly of carbon. Soot will absorb energy from sunlight rather than reflect it thus it is seen as one of the main sources of global warming. This is particularly true if soot happens to settle on snow or ice. Soot particles in the air are a contributing cause for many respiratory illnesses. A common cause of soot is burning wood in a fireplace. Fire damage to residential and commercial properties will require the careful removal of soot during the clean-up process. Fire restoration services will often, due to the nature of the damage, necessitate the need for water and mold restoration in a simultaneous fashion.

Professional fire restoration services will be able to properly and completely clean and remove all soot from the premises. Removing soot from porous items is difficult but possible. Soot can penetrate into porous items due to the unique physical qualities of the surface of the item. Leaving the soot on these items can have drastic negative consequences. Chemical deposits can be left behind which can later be transferred into the air by heating and air conditioning systems and cause respiratory issues. Items that cannot be cleaned of soot completely should be discarded for this reason.

Non-porous items are generally easier to clean. Glass and other non-porous surfaces can normally be restored with appropriate cleaning equipment and supplies. The equipment utilized to clean up after a fire includes high tech Industrial ultrasonic equipment used to clean computers completely. High pressure water is another technique used on appropriate surfaces. The equipment and supplies utilized by professional restoration companies is intended to restore the residential or commercial property to living or working quality with no presence of soot.

Fire restoration services must be sought from a fully trained professional. Cleaning up after a fire is not the same thing as removing excess soot from a fireplace area.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.com

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Why Soot Damage Needs to Be Removed

Friday, July 16th, 2010
When your home has been damaged by fire the destruction does not end once the flames have been squelched. Smoke, soot and water can continue to deteriorate your walls, cabinets, roof and carpets. As a fire burns inside a house, toxic chemical compounds are often created. Dangerous gases can be produced by the reaction between fire and a host of construction components used in building the home; solvents, glues, rubber, wood or paint. Smoke and soot from a fire can leave behind destructive chemical deposits, which is why soot damage needs to be removed.

Soot Damage
Soot is a fine black carbon powder that results from the incomplete combustion between a fuel source, such as wood or coal and the air. Soot is actually an oily substance that continues to cause damage long after putting out the fire if not handled properly.

Smoke and soot travels into the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system duct work and into pipe work as well. The residue left behind not only clogs air ducts and pipes, but also releases tiny toxic particles (carcinogens) into the air you breathe.

Besides soot, secondary damage can be imposed from water in the form of mold and rust corrosion; thus it is advisable to have structural components of the home replaced. A pungent odor is often left behind even after visible signs of soot damage are gone. Roofing materials frequently sustain damage in the course of putting out the fire. Walls, cabinets, carpets and roofing materials should be replaced to ensure the health and safety of the inhabitants and to make certain the house can be adequately insured again after restoration.

Health and Safety Codes
Many cities and counties have municipal codes regarding the disposal of infected, contaminated or chemically hazardous materials. After a fire, it is best to replace structural components of a house that may contain hazardous chemical deposits from soot damage and deeply embedded smoke odor. Insurance companies may hesitate to insure the home again if structural elements damaged by soot are only cleaned rather than replaced.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.com

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Is Your Condo Protected?

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
So, you finally made a leap of faith and purchased your dream condo, but how do you know that it is properly protected? More often than not, your condo’s maintenance will be under the supervision of your respective condo association, who may not be hiring the proper restoration companies to take care of water, mold, and fire damage. So how can you convince them to do so? This guide will help you learn how to make sure that your condo association is using the best restoration company available to properly take care of water, mold, and fire damage if and when it occurs.

The first thing you will want to do when making sure that your condo association chooses a company that can properly manage such damage issues is to communicate to them the huge disadvantages of not contracting a company that can handle such repairs. Make it clear to them that hiring an unqualified company can lead to more damage and unforseen lost time. Let them know that hiring a qualified company will mean less headaches and less work for them in the long and short-term. More often than not, condo associations will hire a company based on their price quotes and not on the actual quality of work. Though this may seem smart to them, this is a huge mistake for those that own condos under the supervision of the association, since it can mean that the job will not be done right the first time. Such scenarios can lead to lost time for the condo owners, as well as an embarrassment when friends or family decide to visit them and see subpar work done, or worse, no work done at all on the damaged areas of their residence.

The second thing you’ll want to communicate to your condo association is that a cheap price quote from their current unqualified vendor may not translate into any price savings whatsoever. Let them know that a cheap price quote often means cheap work done, which usually only leads to more repairs down the road, which cause even more expenses, since the job wasn’t not done right the first time.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.com

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Could it be possible that your carpeting and furniture upholstering around your home is actually making you and your family sick? If you or anyone in your family have symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, sore throats, watery eyes, itching, rashes or other allergy and asthma like symptoms, it is possible that you are getting sick from what lies beyond your carpet and furniture’s surface. Often times most people sum it up to allergies, colds or changes in the weather. Super Restoration has a cleaning service for your carpeting and upholstering throughout your home that can eliminate the problem and leave your carpeting and furniture looking great.

Super Restoration has developed a method of carpet and upholstering cleaning that not only eliminates the stains on the surface, but it gets way down to where the problems are. Trapped in most carpeting and furniture are dust mites, pet dander, mold spores and other odor causing fungi that can be harmful to you, your family and any household pets that you may have within your home. Yes, even your pets can suffer from what is trapped in the fibers of your carpet and furniture upholstering.

Super Restoration has patented their own cleaning service for carpeting and upholstery cleaning. This method uses a hot water extraction with Butler truck mount equipment. This method of cleaning combined with highly qualified professional technicians who have been certified through a vigorous training program means great results for you and a healthier living environment for your family.

When dealing with furniture upholstering there are special techniques that you must use. With a large variety of materials used on upholstering, you must have knowledge in how to properly clean them. The technicians at Super Restoration have the best training in how to get the best results to get your furniture upholstering looking its best and tips to help you maintain it in this condition. Super Restoration technicians will test your upholstery for color fastness and stability of the material prior to your cleaning appointment. You are guaranteed to be please with the results you get with Super Restoration.

Some of the services and guarantees that you can count on Super Restoration to provide for you include:

Wall to Wall carpet cleaning.
Professional upholstery cleaning with results for your specific material.
Persian, Domestic Loose and Oriental Rug cleaning.
Cleaning solutions that are safe for you, your family, your pets and the environment.
Free estimates on your desired cleaning services.
No hidden fees to pay.
Highly qualified technicians who are trained, tested and certified.
Satisfaction Guarantee.

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

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Fire. What is Smoke and Soot Removal

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Fire is one of the most devastating calamities for a private home, office building, theater or any structure used and valued. Sometimes the smoke and soot cause much more damage than the actual fire, but this can be mitigated by the right professionals. Super Restoration has the trained professional staff that can save property that has been smoke or soot damaged and also reconstructs part of the damaged building. They are ready 24 hours for emergency service fire damage clean-up for the smallest to the largest fire damage. They have the best cleaning supplies in the industry and the technicians with the most experience in every kind of soot and smoke removal, so each unique job is done right.

Soot and smoke removal is done by many companies but Super Restoration knows the right way to remove it from drywall, wiring or steel supports so that the terrible and toxic odor and floating particles that make it dangerous to breathe are removed and the house becomes safe for children, pets and you. It is important to call Super Restoration as soon as possible after the fire because they need to assess the extent of the damage and see the exact process needed to clean it and how long it will take. Another aspect of smoke removal is the odor. It gets imbedded in fabrics and other porous materials and shampoo and deodorizer is not the answer. Each surface needs a different process. Super Restoration has several techniques including hot and wet fogging smoke-damaged areas, ozone treatment and High Efficiency Particulate Air scrubbing.

Super Restoration has specialized technicians that use vacuums especially designed for this purpose. They have been in the business for 25 years and have restored and cleaned thousands of offices and residents creating a clean and safe environment again. Super Restoration has licensed and bonded contractors who will make necessary repairs as they clean the soot and smoke damage. The fire may be out but there is still burned material in the structure and many people don’t realize that one of the most critical steps to mitigate the damage is to remove any remaining burned material. This will prevent soot production later when it may break off or start to float into the air again. This type of work needs a professional contractor because it involves restoration of the structure. Smoke and soot mitigation needs to be done right the first time.

In your service,

Rene Vargas
SuperRestoration
1 800 516 8059

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Fire Damage call

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Recently we were able to help a local condominium association with these very problems. Perhaps taking a look at the situation we were presented with and how we handled it can better describe the services we perform and how well we know their job, and what needs to be done in these types of situations.

At 11AM we received an emergency call from the property manager of the condo association advising they had just been the victims of a fire. The fire had spread to the ball room, hallways, and kitchen. An emergency service crew was disbursed to the scene, and by the time they arrived the local fire department was able to take control of the fire and put it out before it could spread any further.

With the knowledge that the damage a fire causes is threefold, which includes burn, smoke and soot damage, as well as knowing that the odor caused by this damage is a problem as well, our crew went right to work. The first step was for them to remove all burnt content and structural materials, documenting the materials that were discarded as well. We then moved on to cleaning and salvaging whatever walls, ceilings, cabinets, floors, and other contents remained. Although smoke and soot removal is a tedious task, the professionals at Super Restoration have the knowledge required to know what cleaning techniques to use for various surfaces and materials, as well as how to handle delicate items and what chemicals to use.

firedamage-blogMitigation efforts take a few days, and as part of these duties we installed ozone generators which help remove odors caused by the fire, and also used what is called thermo-fog techniques, in conjunction with odor killing chemicals, to combat odor from any non-accessible areas.

This is only one example of how Super Restoration has the knowledge and personnel to deal with an emergency situation. To others, it may just be a job. To the people at Super Restoration, it’s more like a way of life.

Super Restoration provides many services. We provide water damage services, such as water extraction, structural drying, and storm response services. We also deal with mold, providing mold remediation as well as mold inspection services. Other services offered by Super Restoration include document restoration, carpet and upholstery cleaning, reconstruction, portable air conditioning, infrared thermal imaging, emergency power, and pack outs, which can move your possessions to our warehouse for storage and restoration.

Rene Vargas
www.SuperRestoration.com
1 800 516 8059
rene@superrestoration.com

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