Was your home damaged in a fire? Are you worried about the costs associated with hiring a disaster restoration team? Fortunately, if the fire damage only damaged a small area of your home, you may not need to call a disaster cleanup company at all. Repairing the damage on your own can save you a lot of money.
Here’s a guide that will help you know whether you need to call a fire restoration company, or whether you can repair the damage to your home on your own.
When to Call a Damage Restoration Professional
Cleaning up after a small fire doesn’t have to break the bank. If your situation meets the following criteria, then you can feel safe repairing the damage on your own:
· The fire department told you it’s safe to enter the property. Some fires will do major damage that make it unsafe to enter your property until major reconstruction has begun. If it’s not safe, then you’ll want to call fire restoration professionals—they’ll have all the necessary training and safety equipment to ensure that the restoration process goes through safely.
· You feel you have the knowledge and the equipment to competently clean and restore the damaged areas.
· You have done research about the best ways to clean up each element of damage. Not all smoke and fire damage is the same, and improper cleaning can make the situation worse.
· The fire only affected a few areas of your home. Home fires are stressful enough as it is—if the fire affected a large portion of your home, you don’t want to be solely responsible for cleaning and rebuilding everything. Large fires can also cause structural damage—meaning that it might be dangerous to work in the area.
Getting Ready to Do a Restoration
If you have settled on doing the restoration yourself, you’ll want to make a few preparations. Safe and effective fire damage restoration requires a good deal of planning and preparation—following these guidelines will help ensure that the cleaning and restoration process goes off without a hitch:
· Create a thorough restoration plan. Seek out the advice of professionals on things you are unsure about, and then establish a detailed, step-by-step plan for how you are going to clean and restore your property.
· Follow all safety precautions. This includes wearing appropriate safety gear (including a high filtration face mask) and making sure that the structure of the area you’re cleaning is stable.
· As you begin work, be sure to turn off gas and electricity to the affected area. Also, be sure to open windows and doors to get air circulating through the house.
· If you feel unsure or unsafe about doing something, then stop and call professionals. The money you’ll save is not worth your own health.
· Before you begin, take a complete inventory of all the damaged items in your home. Make a list, and photograph everything. Additionally, take pictures of the damaged areas. This will help if you end up filing an insurance claim.
Taking care of fire damage restoration on your own can save you money—as long as you’re prepared. Following these guidelines will help keep the process as stress-free as possible.
By Tim Crain
Tim writes professionally for disaster cleanup companies such as FirstRestorationDKI who provides fire restoration in Charlotte. When possible, Tim enjoys writing about DIY projects.
Has your home survived a disaster and now needs a team of professionals to repair and clean up? Then you should check out the Disaster Restoration Specialists on EiEiHome.com.
