Understanding Roxbury Fire Damage and Its Restoration

3/22/2023 (Permalink)

Fire damage in your Roxbury home? Call SERVPRO to make you feel "Like it never even happened."

SERVPRO Helps Restore Homes After Fire Damage

From Harvard Medical School to Northeastern University, many large properties exist in the Greater Boston area of Roxbury. With the thousands residing in the neighborhood, fires happen more often than many think. Even after a fire gets extinguished, effects continue to threaten the impacted structure like:

• Ruined contents
• Airborne contaminants
• Destroyed structure
• Lingering water damage
• Smoke residues and soils

Roxbury fire damage is a highly destructive event in many cases, even with minor kitchen flare-ups. Experienced professionals are needed to document loss and get restoration started. With insurance companies involved when damage claims are made, we work directly with adjusters to meet the requirements to obtain claim approval.

What Kind of Restoration Can Homeowners Expect?

Fire restoration services vary considerably between residences and commercial properties, making each situation unique. We evaluate the condition of your home and determine the needed mitigative and restorative actions to begin returning this structure to its original condition.

Mitigating Fire Damage

Mitigation describes any early actions our professionals take to protect the structure and its occupants from worsening conditions. While the process can involve dozens of acts, standard emergency services can include:

• Personal Belongings/Contents – We can relocate and protect personal belongings caught in the damage path of migrating fire loss effects. We also have on-site cleaning solutions when relocation is not enough. 
• Structural Elements – Inspecting damaged structures can be a wise start to mitigation as well, as several repairs and areas requiring controlled demolition exist with the arrival of our technicians.
• Containing the Damage – It is essential to stop the movement of post-fire loss effects like soot and odors. Covering vents and returns keep these negative elements from entering the HVAC system.

How is Soot Resolved After Fire Damage?

Cleaning up surfaces impacted by soot and smoke residues is a priority of our fire restoration professionals. Partial combustion, prevalent in all affected areas of a structure fire, produces smoke solids that can come to rest on surfaces. We utilize several cleaning approaches, but there are specific factors that can influence the preservation of impacted materials and contents:

• Smoke Damage Type – Environmental conditions and the combustion of specific materials will create varying types of smoke damage. Wet smoke, for example, is a more challenging residue to clean with its thick deposit and tendency to smear.
• Underlying Material – The material impacted by the soot and smoke soils should also be considered when determining salvageability. Older materials are often harder to clean, and highly porous surfaces can also create a substantial obstacle for the technicians. 
• Cost of Preservation – A final consideration that must be made into the salvageability of exposed materials and contents is the difficulty of fire damage restoration against the cost of replacement. Some materials, such as drywall, can be replaced more easily and cheaply than through lengthy restoration and cleaning processes. 

Repairs and Build-Back After a Fire

Structure fires often leave buildings with a pressing need for repairs and reconstruction. Build-back services by our SERVPRO team are possible with our general contractor license. Our qualifications in this field prevent customers from needing to secure secondary contractors to complete rebuilds after the restoration phases.

Roxbury fire damage events happen more often than many homeowners and business managers believe. With the swiftness that these disasters can impact a structure, there is little time to waste in securing restoration professionals approved by your insurance provider to help.

Our SERVPRO of Jamaica Plain / Roxbury team is a preferred post-fire recovery specialist available 24/7 when you call (617) 466-6909.