Our Fire Damage Restoration Process Explained

A fire in your home can be devastating, leaving behind damaged contents and structures. Thankfully, in many circumstances, the damage can be remediated. It is of utmost importance, however, that the damage is quickly attended to by trained professionals. If not immediately addressed, damages can be exacerbated. 

Soot often contains acid particles, which can quickly start to corrode and discolour your property.1 If not quickly attended to, porous surfaces can begin to stain and metal surfaces such as electric coils, pipes, doorknobs, silverware, kitchen appliances and structural supports.2 Extended exposure to soot can greatly exacerbate the restoration process and costs. If you need fast restoration work done on your property, don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Our trained technicians can perform fire damage restoration quickly and efficiently. We ensure that your property is thoroughly cleaned, and all items are treated carefully. From scoping, to contents inventory auditing, to decontamination, NLR is your best partner when it comes to fire damage remediation. The following points detail the careful process we use when restoring your property. 

Scoping and Assessment

Our team can do a thorough assessment of your property to determine the level of damage and remediation needed. While some damage is obvious, other effects may be more subtle. There could be structural damage hiding under plasterboard, or the black spider-web-like trails on a wall may actually be soot tags3. It can also be hard to tell the difference between contents which are nonrecoverable and those which can be cleaned. Our technicians are trained to assess the damages effectively, create a detailed scope for the remediation work that needs to be complete, and provide a quote for the restoration services. 

Inventory of Contents

As fire damage remediation is often undertaken as part of an insurance claim, it is vital that an inventory of all affected contents is created. This also gives peace of mind that no items are lost or neglected in the removal, cleaning and return processes. We use a detailed inventory program to categorise contents according to their location (kitchen cupboards, living room, second bedroom, etc) and whether or not they are able to be cleaned and recovered. We are then able to quote a cost for the remediation of recoverable items, and you are able to claim insurance for any nonrecoverable products.

Contents Cleaning

Many items around your property may have been damaged by a fire. They could be charred, have soot settled into their crevices, or have a lingering smell of smoke. After assessing the extent of the property damage, our professional team can appropriately dispose of any nonrecoverable items and remove recoverable items to our facilities for cleaning. These items then undergo detailed cleaning to remove any soiling, contamination and smoke odour. As well as cleaning any ‘hard’ contents such as furniture, kitchen equipment and appliances, our facilities are also equipped to clean ‘soft contents,’ such as curtains, clothes, shoes, soft toys and linen. See this page for more information on how we remediate and clean soft contents.

Contents Storage and Delivery

We can store your contents in our facility during and after the cleaning process to avoid further damage. Often the contents of your property are cleaned before the property is fully restored. In this case, we can store your items in our warehouse until your property is ready for them to be returned. We ensure that the contents are stored safely, with the necessary protection against bumps, scratches and the elements. When you are ready, we can deliver all contents back to your premises. All items remain itemised and categorised by location, so there is no confusion about where each piece came from. 

Building Cleanup

Stripping damaged materials. NLR technicians can remove burnt or damaged building materials in preparation for professional builders to make repairs. This quickly gets rid of a key source of soot deposits, removing the potential for these particulates to become airborne and respirable. 

Hard surfaces cleaning. As well as removing soft contents for cleaning, our technicians clean all affected hard surfaces in your building. Ceilings, floors, benchtops, cupboards, walls, lighting, furniture and other surfaces may have soot or other contaminants settled on them, and we ensure that they are thoroughly cleaned. We may use a combination of multiple chemical wipe-downs, clean water rinsing, pressure cleaning and vacuuming to clean your surfaces. We pride ourselves on our professional workmanship, and will not leave any half-done jobs or poorly cleaned surfaces. You can count on us to make your indoor surroundings sparkling clean again. 

Carpet cleaning. If carpet has been damaged by fire in your property, our technicians can perform thorough carpet cleaning. (Click here to read more about our carpet cleaning and drying process.)

Odour neutralisation. Smoke odour is an unpleasant smell that can linger in your property even after all surfaces and contents have been cleaned. We care about remediating your property to its full functionality, and this includes ensuring that all smoke odour has been removed. For this purpose we employ specialised equipment that can remove odours from the air. Our Ozone Generators and Hydroxyl Generators can dissipate these odours within hours or days, leaving your house our business smoke-free and odourless. (Please note that these generators cannot be run while a building is occupied. All occupants must evacuate the building before an ozone or hydroxyl machine can be used. For more information, click here.)