How Professional Cleaning Can Reduce Your Loss Expenses

4/21/2021 (Permalink)

Suffering fire damage in your home does not have to be a total loss. Contact SERVPRO for effective cleanup after a fire.

Our SERVPRO Team Offers Many Effective Services After a Fire

Insurance claims can be costly, especially if filed under damage caused by you. In the event of a fire, replacement is by far the most expensive part of a claim, closely followed by resurfacing of structural elements. However, replacement or resurfacing can sometimes be avoided. Cleaning can help to restore possessions to their preloss condition and prevent your insurance rates from rising unnecessarily.

In our experience, insurance claims for fire damage in Houston properties can be lessened by thoroughly cleaning the affected area. Our restoration experts can use tried and tested methods of cleaning to help salvage some of your items and restore them to pre-fire conditions.

The first thing a SERVPRO technician does onsite is to locate smoke residues by conducting a thorough visual inspection. Tracing how far smoke has traveled as well as identifying the type of residue and surfaces affected is a crucial part of the restoration process as it allows us to apply the right cleaning chemicals and technique for each affected area.

Smoke residues bond with the surfaces that come into contact with them. Porous surfaces and materials absorb smoke which can become worse if tackled with the wrong equipment. A SERVPRO restoration specialist can use a combination of dry and wet cleaning methods to lift residue away from the affected surface.
 
The first port of call is industrial-grade wet/ dry vacuums. After vacuuming, there are four specialized methods your restorer can use depending on the situation. Temperature cleaning causes materials to react with higher temperatures and lift settled residue from soft textures like upholstery. Chemical cleaning and soaking time are also very effective in getting rid of high concentrations of soot or smoke.
 
If you have jewelry or other valuables damaged in the fire, ultrasonic equipment can be brought in to restore them. Selected items are placed in a vat of solvent or water. Sonic waves are used to agitate the liquid which produces microscopic bubbles. These bubbles burst on the surface of the items creating pressure. The pressure created by bursting bubbles cleans the surface of high-value items, sometimes bringing them back to preloss conditions.
 
In most cases, we can complete item restoration on-site. However, if there is a lot of damage or limited space to carry out cleaning, we can take items from the site to a storage facility for cleaning and restoration. Pack-outs free up space which can help us extract water, clean or dry the structure efficiently.

SERVPRO has helped some homeowners to reduce the expense of their insurance claim by restoration using professional cleaning methods. In cases of severe damage, cleaning may not be possible. As part of our service, we can walk you around the affected area after cleaning as well as completing a customer content inventory service (CCIS) that lists salvageable and non-salvageable items.

When you are next filing an insurance claim, contact SERVPRO of Katy/Cypress/Champions/1960 for expert assessment and professional cleanup services. Arrange a home visit by calling (281) 469-2957 today.