Following a fire there are many things that must take place in order to begin the restoration process but one of the important first steps is to get a fast fire damage assessment. In order to minimize further damage, health hazards and the damage caused by smoke and soot residue, having an expert on site to guide you in the early stages is very important.
What a timely fire damage assessment can get for you is the security of the safety of you and your family. Very often the urge is almost overwhelming to enter the fire damaged premises to see if there is anything you can salvage or even just to gauge for yourself how extensive the damage is.
The problem is that the house is at its most unstable immediately following the fire, there will be some smoldering embers lying around and live electrical wires could still be present. The assessment is not the home owners to make and a professional fire assessor will make it their business to keep people away from the damage.
Part of the assessment of the property will include ways in which the home can be secured against unwanted guests. For some reason a burnt out home is a target for looters, lowlifes who think nothing of walking into the property with an aim of taking anything that has survived the fire as if the presence of a fire automatically removes ownership of the belongings.
Soot damage is a real problem after a fire of any size and the sooner the fire assessment has been made, the sooner the restoration can get under way. This is relevant to soot damage because soot can continue to damage whatever it is sitting on and the longer it sits there the more significant the damage becomes. Moving quick over the first few hours can save a lot of permanent furniture damage.
A successful fire damage assessment will not be limited to either only inside the house or outside the house, it should involve all aspects of the property. Before going near the structure a complete examination of the state of the walls, chimneys, surrounding trees should be made and a decision be made on whether it is safe to approach them.
The first action you should be taking in response to a house fire is to get in touch with a fire damage assessment expert to guide you through the stages of the restoration. Getting this part right will ensure that later steps will also be done right and it could also ensure the continued health of you and your family.
Water Damaged Plaster
After a lot of water exposure to a building, regardless of the source of the water, the building must be dried out thoroughly before any kind of restoration can be done. One of the materials that exist in a lot of building is plaster so it is necessary to be aware of the kind of restoration that is required for water damaged plaster.
The good news if you’ve got plaster walls is that plaster can be dried out much more readily than other common wall surfaces such as sheetrock. Exactly ho much better it dries will depend on the plaster mix that was used when making the wall, the amount of water it has been exposed to and where in the wall the greatest damage has occurred.
If the damage to the plaster has come from clean rainwater it should be possible to save the wall. The first step I s to drain the water from the wall cavity by removing the baseboard and drilling holes in the plaster just above the floor. A word of warning here, use a cordless or battery drill when performing this task.
Remove any wet insulation from within the wall cavity. You want to ensure that the wall cavity has dried thoroughly. To speed up the drying process, open windows and doors to promote good airflow or if that’s not possible bring in fans to circulate the air.
Clean down the walls to remove any water stains and you can consider using a weak solution of Clorox and water to inhibit or remove any early stages of mold growth.
When water damages plaster it causes bubbles in the surface due to the way the lime reacts to the water. This may either be minor damage or it can involve the entire plaster coat that can then crumble away. All of the water damaged plaster should be removed and this can be done with a putty knife or a paint scraper. If the plaster surface has become too hard for the putty knife it may be necessary to use a hammer and chisel to scrape back the hard shell that has formed.
If the wall surface is painted you will have to test it to find out whether it has survived the damage. If it peels off easily when scraped with a putty knife it should be removed back until you reach a point where the paint won’t come off easily.
Once you have scraped back to undamaged plaster you can then prepare the surface and replace the plaster that has been removed with a setting-type joint compound. After refilling the plaster and letting it harden, sand it back until it is smooth and then add another layer of the compound, applying it in a direction that is perpendicular to the way it was applied with the first coat. Repeat the sanding process ensuring that the wall is completely smooth. Clean off the plaster dust and then coat the surface with a primer-sealer before painting over the patched up area.
The good news if you’ve got plaster walls is that plaster can be dried out much more readily than other common wall surfaces such as sheetrock. Exactly ho much better it dries will depend on the plaster mix that was used when making the wall, the amount of water it has been exposed to and where in the wall the greatest damage has occurred.
If the damage to the plaster has come from clean rainwater it should be possible to save the wall. The first step I s to drain the water from the wall cavity by removing the baseboard and drilling holes in the plaster just above the floor. A word of warning here, use a cordless or battery drill when performing this task.
Remove any wet insulation from within the wall cavity. You want to ensure that the wall cavity has dried thoroughly. To speed up the drying process, open windows and doors to promote good airflow or if that’s not possible bring in fans to circulate the air.
Clean down the walls to remove any water stains and you can consider using a weak solution of Clorox and water to inhibit or remove any early stages of mold growth.
When water damages plaster it causes bubbles in the surface due to the way the lime reacts to the water. This may either be minor damage or it can involve the entire plaster coat that can then crumble away. All of the water damaged plaster should be removed and this can be done with a putty knife or a paint scraper. If the plaster surface has become too hard for the putty knife it may be necessary to use a hammer and chisel to scrape back the hard shell that has formed.
If the wall surface is painted you will have to test it to find out whether it has survived the damage. If it peels off easily when scraped with a putty knife it should be removed back until you reach a point where the paint won’t come off easily.
Once you have scraped back to undamaged plaster you can then prepare the surface and replace the plaster that has been removed with a setting-type joint compound. After refilling the plaster and letting it harden, sand it back until it is smooth and then add another layer of the compound, applying it in a direction that is perpendicular to the way it was applied with the first coat. Repeat the sanding process ensuring that the wall is completely smooth. Clean off the plaster dust and then coat the surface with a primer-sealer before painting over the patched up area.
Attic Mold and Attic Ventilation
A common occurrence in a surprisingly high number of attics, particularly in the warmer northern climates, is the growth of mold. A common cause of the problem is inadequate ventilation into the attic and with warm moist air rising through the ceiling and into the roof it can get trapped providing the perfect conditions for mold growth.
You may become aware that you have a problem with attic mold if you have noticed a musty smell throughout the house and could never pinpoint where it came from. It is unlikely that there will be any visual evidence to alert you from the fact. Similarly if you have a constant problem with your air conditioning not seeming to do the job adequately, it could mean that there are problems in the attic.
Attic mold can spread completely through the entire length and breadth of the attic. If the mold that is growing in the attic is black mold then there is a health risk involved in the attic mold removal and it would be best to call in the mold remediation experts. Living under an attic full of mold poses a relatively minor health risk because air flow generally travels up and out rather than down and in.
That being said, it is still advisable to initiate some kind of attic mold treatment to remove it from the rafters, insulation or other parts of the attic affected.
Before attacking the mold in an effort to remove it, it is best to take a sample of it to get it tested so you know exactly what kind of mold you are dealing with. The kind that you want absolutely nothing to do with is black mold which can cause some serious respiratory illnesses. Stachybotrys is the black mold type that you are likely to find on wet or damp cellulose material such as the kind you would find in insulation.
If the mold in the attic is not terribly heavy you may simply choose to leave it alone and simply install attic ventilation instead. Attic ventilation fans or soffit vents will ensure that sufficient air is getting into the attic to dry the area out so that any mold will be killed.
You may be concerned that by installing attic ventilation fans and vents you will be compromising the effectiveness of your insulation. In fact, the fans and vents are a necessary part of the cooling and warming process of keeping the temperature in your house controlled. Attic fans will cool hot attics by drawing cooler outside air into the attic through the vents and will also push the hot air out.
Heavy mold infestation should be cleaned completely and the safest way to do this is by calling in mold remediation specialists. It is unlikely that you will find someone who only specializes in attic mold remediation and the best place to look for someone to do the job is to find a fire and water damage restoration professional.
For further reading on mold damage and remediation :
Cleaning Mold From The Ceiling
Mold Detection and Treatment of Clothes
Prevent Mold From Taking Hold In the Home
Restoring the Home From Mold Damage
Repair Mold Damage In Books
You may become aware that you have a problem with attic mold if you have noticed a musty smell throughout the house and could never pinpoint where it came from. It is unlikely that there will be any visual evidence to alert you from the fact. Similarly if you have a constant problem with your air conditioning not seeming to do the job adequately, it could mean that there are problems in the attic.
Attic mold can spread completely through the entire length and breadth of the attic. If the mold that is growing in the attic is black mold then there is a health risk involved in the attic mold removal and it would be best to call in the mold remediation experts. Living under an attic full of mold poses a relatively minor health risk because air flow generally travels up and out rather than down and in.
That being said, it is still advisable to initiate some kind of attic mold treatment to remove it from the rafters, insulation or other parts of the attic affected.
Before attacking the mold in an effort to remove it, it is best to take a sample of it to get it tested so you know exactly what kind of mold you are dealing with. The kind that you want absolutely nothing to do with is black mold which can cause some serious respiratory illnesses. Stachybotrys is the black mold type that you are likely to find on wet or damp cellulose material such as the kind you would find in insulation.
If the mold in the attic is not terribly heavy you may simply choose to leave it alone and simply install attic ventilation instead. Attic ventilation fans or soffit vents will ensure that sufficient air is getting into the attic to dry the area out so that any mold will be killed.
You may be concerned that by installing attic ventilation fans and vents you will be compromising the effectiveness of your insulation. In fact, the fans and vents are a necessary part of the cooling and warming process of keeping the temperature in your house controlled. Attic fans will cool hot attics by drawing cooler outside air into the attic through the vents and will also push the hot air out.
Heavy mold infestation should be cleaned completely and the safest way to do this is by calling in mold remediation specialists. It is unlikely that you will find someone who only specializes in attic mold remediation and the best place to look for someone to do the job is to find a fire and water damage restoration professional.
For further reading on mold damage and remediation :
Cleaning Mold From The Ceiling
Mold Detection and Treatment of Clothes
Prevent Mold From Taking Hold In the Home
Restoring the Home From Mold Damage
Repair Mold Damage In Books
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
RSS Feed (xml)
