Cumming Fire Damage Restoration: Reclaiming Affected Wood

Expert Fire Damage Restoration of Charring and Odor 

After a Cumming household fire, damage restoration often involves reclaiming charred wooden building materials and fixtures. The potential expense, hazards, and disruption of tearing out scorched supporting structures, woodwork and trim, floors, and cabinets can overwhelm homeowners and exceed home insurance coverage limits. Fortunately, AdvantaClean of Norcross and Buford offers strategies to recover the function and appearance of many heat, flame, and smoke-affected materials. We use research-based techniques that rely on specialized tools, methods, and cleaning products in the hands of our skilled technicians certified by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC). 

Comprehensive Safety Assessment 

Planning for Cumming fire damage restoration requires a thorough pre-project professional inspection. Before rendering emergency services, technicians evaluate the scene for hazards that could make continued occupancy and recovery interventions unsafe. Determining the severity of degraded structural integrity due to charring and excessive heat is crucial. 

• Minimal scorching occurring at lower temperatures and of shorter duration does not appreciably weaken the wooden materials, allowing cleanup and restoration tasks to commence immediately.

• Charring develops and expands deeper into wood structures as the heat rises and visible embers and flames develop. Wood exposed to high temperatures (392℉ to 572℉) continuously chars more severely.

• The charred materials (blackened, fragmented, and dehydrated) lose their load support capacity and need removal. The USDA explains in a  Post-Fire Assessment document that experts must determine if the wood remaining after scraping away the unstable char retains enough strength to support the dependent building materials.  

Char Removal Techniques

If AdvantaClean of Norcross and Buford managers are confident that all or some of the underlying wood in your home retains sufficient tensile strength, we get to work eliminating the charring. Our team accomplishes this goal as follows:

• We remove loose debris by gently brushing and vacuuming with a HEPA-filtered unit. We keep things dry to prevent smearing the sooty charred materials.

• We chip away the attached charring carefully with a chisel or scraper.

• We scrape thin layers of embedded charring with sandpaper.

• We employ controlled media blasting (with sand, soda, or corn cobs) where the charring is more invasive, a sort of “pressure washing.”

Once we eradicate the charred materials, another pass over the surfaces with finer-grit sandpaper smooths them. Technicians apply wood filler products to gouges and holes and sand again. Paint, stains, and protective finishes help make the damaged area blend in with the unaffected surfaces.

Deodorization of Smoke and Fire-Damaged Wood

Wooden building materials and fixtures, such as cabinets and other furnishings, can retain unpleasant smoky odors, particularly where unfinished surfaces exist, like the inside or bottom of drawers or doors. Our technicians use a variety of cleaning tools and cleaning and deodorization products to remove malodorous soot particles from the surfaces. Proprietary sealants are sometimes helpful if the wood retains the volatile stench.

When searching for high-quality fire damage restoration and deodorization for your Cumming property, call AdvantaClean of Norcross and Buford at (470) 819-2070. Our IICRC-certified work crews are well-trained and equipped with the latest tools and products developed to reclaim the beauty and function of wood building materials and fixtures harmed by heat and flames. 

AdvantaClean of Norcross and Buford

(470) 819-2070

3050 Business Park Drive # D, Norcross, GA 30071