Friday, September 30, 2011

Reparing Water and Smoke Damage


This video explains how to prime and repair water and smoke damage to your walls or ceiling. For further information and tips, visit www.dutchboy.com. Happy Painting!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Ultrasonic Cleaning of Smoke Damaged Ceramics


Ultrasonic cleaning of a smoke damaged ceramic figurine from a house fire in southcentral Wisconsin.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Cleaning smoke damaged art work



Created on November 13, 2010 This is some art work that a friend of mine gave me. The work is from a local artist that had a house fire. They were thrown away but I thought they could be saved. I washed them with Clorox clean up and a mild soap after a few hours each they came out pretty good after so much smoke damage.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Flood Damaged Home: Cleaning After the Flood


NDSU Extension area specialist Daniel Waldstein shares tips for cleaning out a flood damaged home, as he cleans his own home after the 2011 Minot, ND flood. In this segment, How to clean and sanitize.
For more flood information check out http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/flood

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Flooded Home: What to Look for Before Rebuilding


NDSU Extension Educator Carl Pedersen shows what to look for and check out in your home before rebuilding after the flood.

or more flood information check out http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/flood

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Flooded Home: Entering for the First Time


NDSU Extension Educator Carl Pedersen shows what you need to look for when entering a home for the first time after a flood.

For more flood information check out http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/flood

Friday, September 9, 2011

Flooded Home: Electrical Issues


NDSU Extension Educator Carl Pedersen shows what to look out for with your homes electrical equipment before rebuilding after the flood.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Expert Professionals for the Best Smoke Damage Cleanup

The smell of smoke can really irritate your nose and overwhelm your body's respiration, especially if your home suffered from fire. If your home is foul-smelling, it is easy to eliminate the odor using a room deodorizer. Going natural, dried eucalyptus branches placed inside a pot or vase could also keep off the bad smell away.

What if something is burned inside your house or a part of your house was razed by fire? Surely, it will leave a lot of residues and odors. Could a spray of deodorizer or a pot of eucalyptus bring the magic? Probably not. What is even worse is that the bad smell from smoke will make the repair and restoration more difficult. And since using even the most potent odor-removing techniques and sprays will not take away the smoke from your home, the most practical thing that you-and other homeowners-should do is hire experts who could conduct smoke damage cleanup. Knowing that eliminating the smell of unwanted smoke is often beyond your skill or even that of your most reliable handyman, follow what most insurance companies suggest: hire experts.

But if fire only affected a small part of your home, probably your kitchen or bedroom, and if there is no structural damage at all-just a few soot and an awful smell of smoke-your insurance claim, being limited only to the smoke and soot, might discourage you to hire a cleanup team.

With this, you have only two options: it's either you hire someone and pay for his service at your own expense or do the work yourself.

If you decide to do the work on your home, here are the things that you might need for a do-it-yourself smoke damage cleanup:

• Vacuum cleaner. Choose a unit that can handle wet and dry surfaces.

• Dry, cleaning sponges. Choose sponges that are specially made for cleaning soot. They are available in cleaning and paint supply stores and you could also find one at art suppliers since they are also great for cleaning paintings and other artworks.

• Tri-sodium phosphate (TSP). This is chemical, though caustic, works as an all-purpose cleaning agent that easily wipes grease and soot. Pine cleaners are also effective and they are less caustic than TSP but using them requires longer time before effects come out.

• Bucket. Your bucket should be at least gallon-size so you could mix TSP and other cleaners properly.

• Sponges, rags, and mop. You will use these for cleaning and wiping out hard and stained surfaces.

• Rubber gloves. Use rubber gloves while mixing cleaners and cleaning the surfaces to avoid skin irritation. Oils from your fingers can cause further damage on the surfaces that you have contact with especially when mixed with soot. Thus, using rubber gloves will make your work easier and more effective.

• Vacuum cleaner with edge attachment. This equipment is great for stains and soot on hard-to-reach corners and cracks.

Since most smoke damage are widespread and affects a huge area in your house, you could enlist the help of professional smoke damage cleanup experts. They have better equipment, skills, and expertise than you do that could save you time and money in the long run. If a greater part of your home is razed by fire and it is only redeemable when an expert team of professionals steps in to do the job, then don't think twice. Contact your most trusted restoration professional now and let their expertise save your home from further dereliction.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Will_Wallace

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Why Do It Yourself Fire Restoration and Water Restoration Is Not Recommended

Many homeowners who are confronted with water or fire damage often try to take up restoration efforts on their own. Though it might seem like a great idea at the beginning, one will often find that fire restoration and water restoration is actually quite difficult once they have begun.

Homeowners will often find themselves lacking in two different aspects. They will be found wanting in terms of technical expertise and will secondly be shorthanded when it comes to quality equipment that will be necessary to carry out fire restoration and water restoration. This is explained in more detail below.

Technical aspects of fire and water restoration that might not be common knowledge,

•When it comes to fire damage, parts of the house that never came in contact with the fire can still be affected by the smoke emitted from the fire. There are different types of smoke such as fuel oil smoke, protein smoke and a few others. Each type of smoke will have to be treated with different compositions of chemicals if the odor has to be removed. A homeowner might carry out an incomplete restoration process where the odor of smoke will be temporarily eliminated. It can however come back after a few weeks and will require another restoration effort to be carried out.

•Water restoration is also equally tricky in the sense that parts of the house untouched by water can still be damaged from the moisture released by the stagnated water. If there is standing water, the water will start to evaporate and turn into moisture that will start to be absorbed by porous construction materials such as ceilings, carpets etc. A water restoration company will use hygrometers to detect moisture levels. They will then use a range of equipment such as water pumps, dehumidifiers and blowers that will rid the property of potentially damaging moisture.

•Fire restoration will need the use of various EPA approved chemicals. For example, ozone and other chemicals will have to be used to treat smoke odor. Ozone has to be handled properly and safely and the affected area will have to be isolated before fire restoration with ozone is carried out.

•When it comes to water restoration, it is not enough if the water is merely removed and the area just dried up. The source of the water leak will have to be identified and stopped. In some cases, this source might be hard to find and only a contractor will be able to use an infrared camera to find a hidden broken pipe that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

In addition to the above points, hiring a water and fire restoration company is always a good idea as they can also do a very good job in assisting you with the insurance claims process.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5964616