Fire Restoration

PA woodbutcher

I have an estimate to do on a early 1900-1920 house that had a fire in the upstairs. One room will need to be gutted as some of the interior planks have been scorched.
What I have so far: I will have to redo all the ceilings as they are lathe and plaster with drop ceilings under them some in the 2x4 grids and some in the 1' square tiles (I should plan on removing the lathe and plaster too?). Tiles are black and don't imagine they will clean. Most of the upstairs window will need to be replaced as it got hot enough to bubble the paint on the frames, so I would imagine the seals in the windows are gone I do have to talk to the adjuster as I believe that the whole upstairs will need to be gutted if nothing else to remove the smell, just don't know how far he will let me go at this point.

Downstairs outside interior wall is garbage paneling so wil need to be replaced as water damage has them buckled. Plan on replacing the insulation in that also. Water damage has that ceiling ruined also and will need to pull the lathe and plaster on that just to make sure it dries out

I know some of you guys have done quite a bit of fire work....what else should I be looking at and or what questions should I be asking the adjuster? I asked my Dad who remodeled for 40 years and he said that he never did one (they stink!!) Go figure

Thanks,
Bryan

EMCustom

you may not need to pull down the plaster ceilings upstairs if the plaster is still in sound condition. You will have to use a stain sealer to seal in the odor however. depending on the home's construction methods smoke odor in the wall cavities may be an issue too. YOu will probably have to replace all insulation and maybe seal the rafters/decking in the attic as well

Getting rid of the odors in bad fires is always the trickiest. Raw wood or some other porous material is usually the culprit. If it can't be sealed it needs to be replaced!

wetpaintbrush

Many of the contractors that fix them gut as much as they can. Then they have a painter go in there and spray a bunch of shellac to seal in the smell. (which I've done a lot of.) Most of the times the chard stuff is taken out, some times not. Depends how many corners you want to cut. If you can take out all the wall board and insulation and pressure wash it. Let it dry out before the coating shellac to the structure. My advice is make sure the walls and roof structure has plenty of exterior ventilation afterwards.

plazaman

Baking Soda Blasting for Fire restoration!

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