What Do Los Gatos Businesses Need to Do to Recover From Fire Damages?

10/31/2020 (Permalink)

To recover your business quickly with a minimum loss of revenue after a fire, contact SERVPRO of Los Gatos / Monte Sereno at (408) 600-2020.

Commercial Fire Damage Restoration Can Recover Losses in your Los Gatos Business. SERVPRO Can Send Professionally Trained and Certified Technicians to your Premises.

How are the damages in a fire loss site calculated?
As a premises manager of your Los Gatos business, you may be anxious to uncover the actual expense of a property fire. These losses can differ dramatically depending on the type of fire, the material inside the premises, and the length of time the building was burning. Smoke travels through a structure quickly, leaving behind unpleasant, and sometimes odorous, soot deposits. Extensive soot on walls, ceilings, surfaces, and inside desk drawers can lead to your business's temporary closure. SERVPRO offers a callout within four hours of your notification of loss to ensure restoration begins right away, and you can resume business with minimal interruption. A qualified commercial restoration service has both the experience and the resources to perform a thorough scoping of the property to calculate potential losses.

What is the scoping of a fire loss site?
A scoping procedure is the first step in commercial fire damage restoration of your Los Gatos business. This process helps us understand the extent of harm in the premises, how cleanable contents or structure is, and which materials must be discarded. Generally, we operate with at least a crew chief and a production technician to scope the property. In larger commercial properties, we may increase the workforce necessary to provide a time-efficient solution to your business interruption. Setting up a loss site for restoration and calculating the exact equipment, resources and time-frame are valuable for business owners who can then begin planning re-opening or inform staff of the issue. If you have any questions, our crew chiefs are more than happy to communicate with you throughout the restoration process.

What tasks are being carried out during the scoping procedure?
    •    Taking measurements of room sizes and areas of damage to enable correct calculation of equipment needs and resources.
    •    Testing surfaces for smoke residues can sometimes be tough to spot and measure the amount of smoke penetration.
    •    Using a dry cleaning sponge to pre-test surfaces for cleanability and assessing residues types- either dry or wet.

How do commercial restoration services reduce fire losses?
The value of hiring commercial restoration technicians for your business lies in the ability to mitigate secondary losses after a fire. Sometimes soot deposits may be highly acidic. Without timely intervention, these deposits can corrode the surfaces of non-porous materials like metals. These can be particularly expensive to replace and could include complex appliances, tools, or frameworks. Our technicians actively guard against corrosive smoke residues during the scoping of your business property by applying lubricants or wet cleaning detergents directly onto the material. Stainless steel cleaner can be a useful cleaning agent for controlling losses that affect appliances, ductwork, or framing in your business. These cleaning agents can also be used on faucets or trim work on the premises to protect them from secondary damages.

How are different smoke types assessed with a dry cleaning sponge?
    •    Light grey and black soils or residues could indicate dry smoke that can be vacuumed from the surface or removed using the dry cleaning sponge.
    •    Smoke residues that smear when wiping should be treated with caution as these indicate wet smokes that spread around with dry cleaning methods.
    •    Heavy oils or grease can often be detected by a dry-cleaning sponge and show where technicians need to apply oil-based solvents.

Do restoration services include content restoration?
SERVPRO technicians endeavor to restore both the structure and contents of your business. Similar to structural cleaning, contents technicians are looking for contrasts between affected and unaffected contents on your premises. These could include cosmetic issues to appliances, surfaces, cabinets, and desktops. Pre-testing can be valuable to the efficiency of restoration by allowing technicians to determine cleanable and non-cleanable items. Wiping away contrasts or outlines indicates that these items are restorable. When the object does not respond to pre-test cleaning, we may need to dispose of it and fit a replacement. The cost of replacement far exceeds the price of restoration. We operate with a restore over replace mentality to get your business back “Like it never even happened.”

What methods of contents restoration are useful for businesses?
    •    Semi-refinishing is a practical method of restoring hardwood surfaces or appliances but can be a time-consuming process.
    •    Polishing using furniture polish or creme can help with any wooden contents in your business. A compound cleaner can be useful for metals.
    •    Wet cleaning is an aggressive form of restoration that uses hot water combined with a detergent or cleaning agent to remove soils and grime.

To recover your business quickly with a minimum loss of revenue after a fire, contact SERVPRO of Los Gatos / Monte Sereno at (408) 600-2020.