Dealing With Fire Damage For Chicago Residents

9/4/2018 (Permalink)

Most home fires are relatively small and contained quickly.

Dealing With Fire Damage

Most home fires are relatively small and contained quickly. However, in spite of a small blaze smoke can travel throughout your home causing extensive damage. When materials burn the smoke, composed mainly of carbon, can pick up toxins from that particular material and deposit them causing bad, although rarely harmful, smells to remain long after the fire has gone.

We learn about the behavior of smoke to ensure that homes dealing with the aftermath of fire damage in Chicago get the best possible service. Smoke residues from the burning of natural materials like woods or paper can usually be easily wiped away using wet cleaning methods. However, when synthetic materials burn the smoke is thicker leaving odorous deposits in places you might not see.

Smoke travels by convection, the process by which hot air rises and pushes cold air beneath it. Convection is why the predominant areas of damage in a fire are ceilings. It's also why you are taught to crawl to safety in a fire. The temperature of the fire determines how hard the smoke is pushed up against a surface and therefore how much residue it deposits onto that surface.

Since smoke always travels by convection, it makes smoke damage easy to predict. It is likely that any free upper airspace contains a thick deposit of smoke, especially in smaller cavities such as the gap between the home appliance and wall. SERVPRO technicians are trained to recognize the way smoke behaves which allows us to find smoke where you would not usually think to look.

Taking an educated approach is an essential part of what we do. SERVPRO technicians are IICRC certified before working on the job. It is this training that allows us to deliver an extensive assessment and comprehensive restoration service to our communities.

Within one hour of notification of loss, we can arrange for a SERVPRO technician to contact you for service. Within 4 hours we can arrive on site and begin mitigating loss. After that, we can pre-test your contents for the extent, and type of smoke damage, before embarking on a full restoration, cleaning and deodorizing of your home and contents after fire damage.

If you need a professional to help cope with the damage left behind by a fire, call SERVPRO of Evergreen Park / South Chicago City 24 hours a day on (773) 337-3900.

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