Why You Shouldn’t Throw Out Your Smoke-Damaged Items After a Fire

1/25/2022 (Permalink)

Pack out in Egypt, TX.

After a fire, Here's Why You Shouldn't Throw Away Your Smoke-Damaged Items

After a commercial fire in Egypt, TX, it’s easy to assume everything caught in the blaze is destroyed beyond repair. While this may be true for items that were caught in the center of the blaze, it’s a mistake to outright condemn everything damaged by smoke. The disaster restoration company that you or your insurance company hired should have equipment that allows them to treat these items and restore them to their pre-fire condition. Here are a few examples of the work they can do to take care of your items and why you should wait on their expertise:

Dry-Cleaning

Contrary to what you may think, items with a layer of soot on them from the fire are not beyond repair, including clothing. While taking these items to a regular dry-cleaning business probably wouldn’t do the trick, fire restoration professionals have equipment that effectively removes thick layers, of dust, dirt, and soot so the items are ready for later cleaning stages if necessary.

Wet Cleaning

After the dry-cleaning process, if an item still requires additional cleaning to remove harmful pathogens or odor, it can undergo a wet cleaning process, so long as such a treatment would not be harmful to the item in question. This second stage of the content cleaning process works great for clothing and other porous items.

Ultrasonic Cleaning

For nonporous items, however, wet cleaning is simply ineffective if not harmful. Ultrasonic cleaning is perfect for ceramics, figurines, windows and blinds, precious metals and plastics. This often brings a lot of relief to business owners, particularly if cherished keepsakes in their offices have been damaged by a commercial fire.

Pack-Outs

In some cases, when a large enough number of contents have been damaged by fire or smoke, restoration professionals will haul the items out of the affected area into a content storage area. This both protects the items from further damage and speeds up the remodeling process later on.