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Fire & Water - Cleanup & Restoration

What You Should Or Should Not Do After Fire Damage Affects Your Windermere Home

6/2/2020 (Permalink)

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There was a fire in your home; you were able to get everyone to safety and contact the authorities but felt helpless as you stood there, watching. Doing a little research on your own led you to give us a call. But now you do not want to wait. You want to start fixing things. Where do you start?

Learning what you should or should not do after a fire damage incident property is important. While you are waiting for an expertly trained professional to arrive, there are many ways you can help. Just keep in mind that you should avoid doing too much. Some items on this list are for Do-It-Your-Selfers; we highly recommend that you call us first. We can walk you through some of these things.

Make sure to focus your attention on safety. Eliminate any possible electrical or gas hazards by shutting the services off to your house, ONLY if safe. No one knows your home better than you do; you should be able to locate slip and fall hazards before anyone else.

Do not attempt any activities that are unsafe for you to perform on your own. Remember, some of these materials can weigh a lot due to water exposure, so be careful. There is no reason to move the big items out on your own; SERVPRO technicians are on the way.

You can limit traffic to prevent soot particles from being embedded into your upholstery and carpeting, by placing clean towels or old linens on any rugs, upholstery or carpeting found in high traffic areas. Keep your hands clean to avoid transferring different soils to clean upholstery, walls, or woodwork. Do not attempt to clean soot. Improper cleaning can actually make it more difficult to fully remove and can cause secondary damage to some surfaces.

If you were able to turn off your electricity properly, you can empty your freezer and refrigerator and prop the doors open for cleaning. If the fire damage is relatively minor, leave the fridge closed for us to come and inspect. You can also help SERVPRO technicians by removing any small loose items found throughout your home, such as house plants, desk lamps, and other small appliances to a safe, dry location carefully. You should also secure any medications, important paperwork, firearms, or items of high value. 

Placing double layers of cheesecloth over all of your air registers and changing your HVAC filter helps. But, avoid turning on your ventilation system, you'll just end up causing additional cleaning that wasn't otherwise necessary, so letting us do the work is preferable.

Avoid washing walls or painted surfaces, or shampooing your carpet and other upholstery items without contacting us. Do not clean any electrical appliances directly affected by fire, heat, or water; SERVPRO has specialty restoration services for those items, to avoid accidental secondary damage.

You should also avoid using any canned or packaged food or beverages stored near the source of the fire, heat, or exposed to water. Also, never send any clothing or other garments to an ordinary dry cleaner after a fire, as improper cleaning used on affected items may cause smoke odors to set permanently.

For more advice, and fire damage restoration service, on what you should or should not do after a fire, contact SERVPRO of West Orange today, 407-352-1569.

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