Sunday, June 29, 2025
Asbestos Hazards in Renovations, Restorations, and Demolition
Thursday, June 26, 2025
How to Choose Exterior Paint Colors | This Old House
Monday, June 23, 2025
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Friday, June 20, 2025
About Alltek Restoration
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Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Do’s And Don’ts When Restoring Your Home After Fire Damage
The key to restoring a home after fire damage depends on several factors you should do and don’t. Remember, fire damage restoration is a serious matter, and you don’t have any room for mistakes. For example, even if the firefighters declared that the fire’s over, it doesn’t mean that getting inside is safe. You might step on glass shards, nails, and anything sharp. There’s also a chance that heavy debris may fall on you while you attempt to clean and restore your home right away.
And because of those things, it’s always advisable to work with professional restoration companies like Arsidaho.com and others that offer similar services. Hiring these companies can hasten the restoration process.
Dos And Don’ts
Surely, you still want to help with the restoration process. It might be because you want to quicken the process or reduce the amount you need to spend. Whatever the reason, you want to make sure that you do it safely and properly.
What To Do
Here’s a list of the things you should do when restoring your home after fire damage:
1. Avoid The Scene Of The Fire
You need to avoid the fire scene until the firefighters permits you to go inside your home. Even if the fire appears to be out, it can restart. You don’t want to trap yourself inside when that happens. Moreover, the burnt part of your house can be unstable after a fire. Something may collapse and it may fall on you.
2. Document The Scene
Taking pictures, collecting receipts, and recording conversations with firefighters can help you with your insurance. This is because the evidence will help speed up the insurance claim process and ensure that you get a fair claim to cover the restoration process.
3. Call Your Insurance Company
Insurance providers will have to assess the extent of the damage before they can start processing the claim. And to get them to process it as quickly as possible, you should call them immediately and let them know about the damage. Once they come, you can show them the parts that you documented to help with the process.
4. Find A Reliable Restoration Company
After the fire, you’ll want things to go back to normal as soon as possible. Therefore, you should find and contact a restoration company. Let them handle the restoration and help them out if they need anything. Even though you may be tempted to start the restoration by yourself, don’t; you may not have the right cleaning equipment and skills to do it alone.
5. Discard All Exposed Food
The food that has been exposed to fire or smoke isn’t suitable for consumption anymore as it may have chemicals that are unsafe to your body. Therefore, once you’re allowed back into the house, ensure that you discard all of them.
6. Seek Support
Watching your house go into flames can be traumatizing even for emotionally and financially strong people. You don’t need to go through such moments alone, and you should call and talk to your friends and family to seek emotional support. With a calm mind, you can trust yourself to make proper decisions.
7. Seek Temporary Shelter
Depending on the severity of the fire damage, you may need to seek temporary shelter as soon as possible. Take all the valuables you can, and make sure to do it right away. You don’t want your pets and family members to stay in your home as the soot and other toxic fumes may harm their health.
Also, you need somewhere to rest and pull yourself back together. Restoring your home may be on top of your priority list after the fire, but don’t forget yourself.
What Not To Do
After the fire, there are things that you should be keen to avoid doing to prevent further damage and make the restoration process smooth. Such things include the following:
1. Do Not Use Utilities
After a fire, you need to stop using the utilities such as gas and water. Remember that water that’s mix with dirt and debris becomes more electrically conductive. If it comes in contact with faulty electric equipment, it may result in electrocution.
On the other hand, there’s a huge chance that your gas line has been damaged or it might even be the reason the fire started. The last thing you want to do is to try igniting anything within the vicinity as there might be a gas leak.
2. Avoid Cleaning Before Insurance Assessment
Even after documenting the fire scene, you should avoid scrubbing soot, smoke, or moving anything in the house before an insurance inspection. This is because cleaning up may lessen the extent of the damage and consequently reduce your insurance claim.
3. Don’t Turn On Any Electric Equipment
Sometimes, the cause of the fire could be faulty electric equipment or connection. Turning on electric equipment soon after you’re allowed back into the house without a safety clearance could start another fire.
And even if the firefighter declared that your house is safe, don’t hesitate to ask about the status of your electricity service. Remember that aside from starting another fire, having problems with electricals may lead to electrocution or short your appliances.
4. Don’t Use Or Clean Carpets And Curtains
When soot or debris gets to your carpet after fire damage, it could be a headache to try and clean it. To avoid wasting time and further trouble, you should just dispose of it or get professionals to work on it. They can provide the best cleanup process for those items.
Conclusion
Fires can happen, and if a fire damages your home, you’ll be so distressed. The best you can do is ensure you do the right thing to make the restoration of your home easier and faster so that you can get your old life back. Follow all the things you’re supposed to do and act with caution.
SOURCE: https://purehomeimprovement.com/restoring-your-home-after-a-fire-damage/
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Home Remodeling After a Catastrophe
After a tornado, flood, earthquake or other natural disaster there can be significant damage to a house. This can cause a serious need for repairs and restoration but hopefully, insurance will be available to cover the costs. Instead of simply putting things back to the status quo, why not take the opportunity to do some long-awaited home remodeling and not just fix things but also improve them?
Home remodeling is usually done by demolishing or stripping out the materials in a room or section of the house, so why not just look at the damage as nature's demolition crew. In a way, you might save time and money by having the weather do the dirty work.
After a flood is a great time to look into installing wood floors or renovating a basement. Tornado damage to a wall of the house may be the perfect time to begin that addition or redesign you have been considering. Also, perhaps the loss of many shingles to high wind and heavy rain means that the time has come to re-roof the house. Home remodeling may be the silver lining of the tragedy and catastrophe that has been foisted upon a property owner.
Home remodeling may not be entirely covered by insurance because these liability companies often seek to pay just enough to restore things to the way they were before. That does not mean that a little extra investment or creative use of the insurance settlement cannot be used to improve things. If the building flooded, it is probably worth paying for shoring to lift it and prevent future problems of that kind. If the windows blew out in a hurricane maybe higher wind-speed-rating units can be invested in. In situations where an earthquake cracked the foundation, it can be assessed, sealed, and perhaps retrofitted to prevent against future shifting. Maybe the building even needs to be leveled.
This is not meant to diminish the severity and upsetting aspects of a disaster. Home remodeling instead offers a chance to focus on something else. It is easy to get tied up in worrying and grieving for what was lost in an unexpected disaster. While nobody should entirely ignore and repress their grief, at some point everyone needs a distraction to help them return to normal life. While it may not be able to repair the emotional damage of experiencing these events, perhaps it offers a diversion to heal and move forward. If nothing else, it is a chance to improve the protection of structures from similar future problems.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Aaliyah_Arthur/663273
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7014676
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Preparing To Paint a House. House Painting Instructions & Hacks.
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Water-Related Disaster? Safety First
But homeowners, often feeling helpless in these situations, may ask what they can do to help during this time. The answer is simple but important: safety. Taking measures to ensure the safety of your family and your home is advice to heed. Let's take a look at some safety do's and don'ts.
Is The Home Safe?
Determine whether the house is structurally safe to enter or live in; professionals may refer to the structural integrity of the home. If you're unsure, don't enter the house and make arrangements for shelter with the help of local agencies, neighbors, and friends. Contact your insurance company, too.
If it's determined that the home is safe to enter, turn off the power by disabling the main circuit breaker; turn off the main water supply as well. A flooded basement could damage your furnace if the water reaches a dangerously high level. If you have a natural gas supply line, turn that off also; better still, leave that for a professional.
Of course, keep children and pets away from flooded areas; you don't want accidents from slippery, wet floors.
Don't operate televisions, computers, vacuums or other electrical appliances while standing on wet carpets or floors, especially concrete surfaces.
Be sure your valuables are safe. If you will not be living in the house due to the unsafe conditions, remove your valuables including documents and treasured items such as photographs and other keepsakes; store them with a trusted friend or relative. If you are able to stay in your home, move valuables to a dry, safe location.
Is There Mold?
Mold growth is often one of the ensuing problems created by flood damage. The damp conditions in your home after a flood are an ideal breeding ground for these microscopic organisms that spread by producing airborne spores. Those mix with the air inside your house and can lead to health and safety concerns for you and your family. Typical symptoms resulting from mold exposure include everything from respiratory problems and nasal and sinus congestion, to skin, eye, nose and throat irritation.
(Be on the lookout for signs of mold. They vary considerably but may include a smelly odor, a white and thread-like growth, clusters of small black spots; mold can be grayish-brown, grayish-green or white in color.)
Do treat all flood water as contaminated. The water and water-impacted surfaces may not be contaminated but until determined by a professional, don't take chances. Don't track contaminated materials and items into undamaged areas. Do keep children and pets, who are especially vulnerable, out of suspect areas. Absorbent materials such as carpeting and drywall may be unsalvageable after contaminated.
Implementing these tips will put you into action mode versus feeling helpless. More importantly, it will ensure the safety of your family and your home.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6903591