How to Care For Your Belongings After a House Fire

4/14/2021 (Permalink)

A house fire often brings destruction and leaves damage in its wake, and there’s a good chance that your belongings received the brunt of the damage. Caring for your belongings after a house fire may seem overwhelming, but there are a few things that you can do once you call the professionals, have the fire put out, and your house is deemed safe to enter again. Always, always make sure that your house fire is completely out and your home is safe to enter before even thinking about caring for your belongings post-house fire. Your safety and well-being are most important.

So, how do you care for your belongings after a house fire?

1) Coordinate electronic cleanup with professionals.

Under no circumstances should you turn on any electronics that were affected by your house fire. Any electrical devices or appliances may pose big hazards to you and your health if they were damaged in a fire since smoke residues may have caused their metal surfaces to corrode. Don’t attempt to turn on or operate any electronics. We advise you to leave the restoration to the professionals.

2) Approach contents restoration in a multi-faceted manner

Depending on the contents of your home, dry cleaning, wet cleaning, or even immersion cleaning may be in order. Our website nicely defines the different types of content restoration cleaning that you may need to undertake or invest in following a house fire.

• Dry Cleaning - Used for cleaning light residues or to pre-clean prior to wet cleaning.
• Wet Cleaning - An effective cleaning method for removing moderate to heavy residues.
• Spray and Wipe -Effective for items that can’t withstand wet cleaning.
• Foam Cleaning - Used for upholstery fabrics that might shrink or bleed if wet cleaned.
• Abrasive Cleaning - Involves agitation of the surface being cleaned.
• Immersion Cleaning - Contents are dipped into a bath of the cleaning product.
  
  

3) Take pictures of everything

If it’s safe for you to do so, take pictures of everything that was damaged in the fire so you can make the proper insurance claims and get them approved. Alternatively, a restoration team can do this for you in a safe, timely manner so that you have evidence of all the damage and it’s documented for any questions in the future.

For more information regarding caring for your belongings after a house fire, check out this page on our website. Our fire damage restoration team is always equipped and ready to come out to your home or apartment to take care of the damage and restore your property to its original condition. You can reach our SERVPRO of Belle Meade/West Nashville team by calling (615) 242-9391. This franchise is independently owned and operated.