What To Do After A House Fire -Peyton, CO

It’s natural to worry about what to do after a fire, which can be frustrating and stressful. The following articles cover what to do after a fire, from securing the home to cleaning up the damage. Also included are a few tips to help the process go smoothly.

The best way to secure your home after a fire

It is important to secure your home immediately after a fire to prevent it from flaring up again and to prevent vandals from damaging your household belongings.

• Flare-Ups: The first thing you should do after a fire is to make sure that it doesn’t flare up again. The fire department will prevent flare-ups if they respond. However, if you extinguish the fire yourself, you have to do the work. You should spray the entire area again, even when you think the fire is out. If there is any heat coming from the ashes, continue to spray until the flames go out.
• Keep Your Home Safe From Nature & Vandals: If you have recently suffered fire damage on the exterior of your home, you need to safeguard it against wild animals, vandals, and the weather. By tarping your roof and installing plywood to board up windows and doors, you can help prevent further damage, as well as ensuring that unwanted animals or people, do not nest or cause damage inside your home. This step may be best handled by professionals since this will ensure it is done correctly and help lessen your workload. 

Cleanup a house after a fire

1. Documenting the Damage: Keep a photo or video of the damage, even if you think your insurance will not cover the damage. 
2. Securing Your Home: As mentioned above the importance of securing your home. 
3. Water Removal and Drying: A firefighting effort will most likely leave water behind that can ruin walls, cabinets, carpeting, and other materials. Use pumps, dehumidifiers, fans, and wet/dry vacuums to dry any remaining water in your home.
4. Discard damaged materials: Takedown and dispose of all items that have been damaged beyond repair by fire or water, including flooring, walls, ceilings, cabinets, countertops, and personal items.
5. Cleaning Up Smoke and Soot: After only a few hours of exposure to smoke and soot, surfaces are permanently stained. Use a shop vacuum to vacuum up soot and ash. Finally, you can clean smoke stains with equal parts of vinegar and water.
6. Removing The Smoke Smell: Air movement can contribute to smoke and soot spread, so ventilate the area soon after cleanup is complete.
7. Cleaning The Fabrics In Your Home: Smoke and soot stains can be removed from carpeting and furniture with a carpet or upholstery cleaner. In some cases, you may need to send the pieces out for dry cleaning or hire a professional cleaner.
8. Preventing Mold: Disinfect the area with a solution of bleach and water, if it was exposed to water. Wipe down small items, but it’s more effective to spray larger areas. 

If you find yourself in need of fire restoration for your business or home, give Restoration 1 of Peyton a call today.