When Smoke, Water, and Fire Damage Your Everett Home

10/19/2024 (Permalink)

A fire in your home can cause a lot of damage, especially if it's not dealt with properly. Contact SERVPRO 24/7 for certified technicians.

A House Fire Severely Damages Contents & Interior

Fire damage never disappears on its own. When it affects your Everett property, you'll see that it is not only charring and burning that happens. Other changes include water damage and the presence of new and unwanted odors.

The changes related to fire damage in an Everett house are physical and molecular. Charred wood is visible but happens at the molecular level. The wood changes into charcoal. Such changes are permanent.

Here, we will explain how a fire changes things in your home at the molecular level:

• Smoke,
• Water, and
• Fire.
  

Smoke contains gases, solids, and liquids, including some oils. Much of the solid material is so tiny that it's impossible to see the individual particles without a microscope. These pieces are very sharp and capable of causing etching of shiny surfaces within your home. As these particles break down and disintegrate more and more, air currents can lift them into the air, where you and your family smell them as smokey, acrid odors. We clean these deposits up as quickly as possible and run air scrubbers.

When firefighters spray water onto hot, burning things, a lot becomes steam. As the steam cools, it remains in the air as water vapor or condenses on cool surfaces. Moisture can seep into microscopic pores and begin causing secondary water damage, including mold and dry rot. Too much moisture can easily warp wood. SERVPRO® addresses all of these according to IICRC standards.

A fire's heat can melt plastic and other synthetic materials from a short distance. Many toys, kitchenware, and even clothing contain these materials. They also give off toxic gases when heated. We clean up the melted messes and take inventory of these destroyed belongings. We clean the air with air scrubbers and negative pressure set-ups.

Call the experts in fire damage, SERVPRO of Everett / Lake Stevens / Monroe, at their 24-hour number, (360) 243-8313.