Why SERVPRO Waits for a Safety Assessment Before Mitigating Fire Damage on Merritt Island

1/28/2019 (Permalink)

We are here to help make fire & water damage "Like it never even happened."

Steps to Mitigating Fire Damage in Your Merritt Island Home 

During the time firefighters are putting out a fire in a Merritt Island home, a huge amount of water gets sprayed into the residence. This water can come in through the roof or walls where ventilation holes were made by firefighters to let the smoke out or through the open doors and windows. Either way, the bulk of this water ends up on the floors. The presence of this water is why SERVPRO waits until a safety assessment by the fire department's inspector.

This report provides us with pertinent information on a customer's Merritt Island property that is crucial for mitigating fire damage. Without it, we would possibly carry out work in areas that require reinforcements while they remained in a dangerously weakened state. The fire department's report gives us information about where we need to place extra support beams. Some of our machines weigh quite a bit and several of these can strain floors.

Other weaknesses can involve floorboards that, because of their age combined with the water and steam, become extremely weak and create possible hazards with any amount of weight. The carpeting might seem intact, but underneath, the support no longer exists. Once dry, many of these weakened boards regain their strength, either entirely or near enough to make them salvageable.

A large part of our SERVPRO team's work is geared toward making your home safe again so your family can occupy it without any concern for their safety. This is a crucial point in making sure your family can move forward and forget the tragedy of the fire. Water plays such a significant role in how your home fares after a disaster, so as we mitigate fire damage, we also mitigate the effects created by the water.

Your walls can also become affected by the water, even if the fire barely harmed them. The interior portion of your wall holds a wooden framework. The boards making up this frame can swell and warp when steam comes into contact with them. Twisting like this can create breaks in now-damp drywall and plaster. However, just like damp floorboards, restoring normal moisture content levels by drying the area out with our desiccant machines can bring these frames back into normal specifications. While affected walls might still need some repairs, the majority of the wall does not.

Locally Owned Company with National Resources

SERVPRO of Central Brevard can help you after fire damage harms your home. We work in Sharpes, as well as Rockledge and Cape Canaveral, helping homeowners and their families recover after disasters like this. Call us at (321) 638-4947, and we can help you get started in restoring your home's safety and make it livable again. 

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