What Happens to My Belongings After a House Fire?
This is a question we get relatively often from people throughout North Las Vegas who call us for help after a house fire. The common belief is after a fire damage disaster, especially a severe one, families must simply start over with nothing. The good news is, that is not always the case.
In the restoration industry, there is something called “contents cleaning.” It is exactly as it sounds. Professionals are able to take items from a home or businesses damaged by fire, flood, contaminated by odors, and so on, and use special techniques to restore them to the way they were before the disaster. While not everything in a home can be cleaned and saved, much of it can! There have been great strides in cleaning techniques and tools making it possible to clean everything from grandma’s fine china to electronics.
Here’s a look at how it all works:
- The Packout: A crew will come in and methodically box up your home, room by room, using a careful labeling and organization system.
- Cleaning: Restoration companies with full contents restoration capabilities, like ERX, have a large assembly line process for cleaning. It also means your items will all be inventoried and carefully kept track of during each step of the cleaning process.
While the cleaning process varies depending on the item, you can rest assured that only proven effective techniques are used that won’t do further damage to your items. For hard goods like dishes, they will be thoroughly washed and dried. If there is a noticeable odor, they will be placed in a special room with equipment that has the ability to remove that odor. For textiles like clothing, they will be carefully washed using unique odor and stain removal solutions, dried, and pressed, then carefully boxed back up.
There are also proven processes in place to restore expensive electronics like computers and even restore meaningful items full of sentimental value like photos or books.
- Stored during restoration: Depending on the severity of the fire, your contents may need to be stored at our facility while your property is restored. Again, rest assured your items have been carefully inventoried and will be stored in a climate-controlled environment until your home is livable again.
- Items returned: This has to be the most exciting part of the process, right? Just as crews carefully boxed up items by room, the boxes will be strategically returned to those rooms for you, rugs placed back in their original places, and window treatments rehung.
ERX has a well-trained staff that has been handling contents from homes throughout Las Vegas for years. Having items damaged in a house fire, for example, can help restore your family’s sense of normalcy sooner, and save you and your insurance carrier a lot of money. Be sure to communicate with us throughout the process so we can be sure you have what you need to help you through this difficult recovery process.
