When you were sleeping, you may not have been aware of the electrical issues in your home. Suddenly you woke up to smoke and jumped into action to save your family members. You all escape and gather across the street, watching as your house goes up in flames. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence.
There have been many situations where we have stepped in when someone came to us with a fire damaged home and needed to sell it fast for cash. Regardless of your situation, you have a decision to make. Whether or not you want to restore the property and remediate any issues that may have occurred. Before you decide, let’s take a closer look at the totality of the situation.
The fire damage restoration process, and what to recognize
Restoring your fire damaged house begins with an over-all analysis of the condition of the home. This means looking for anything that may make the home unstable, or otherwise uninhabitable. This is the perfect time to write everything down. As you walk the property with your contractors (if it’s safe to do so), take note of everything they say. The information you want to gather when it’s all said and done is a list of needed repairs, and estimates on how much each repair will cost you.
When the analysis is being done, the experts will be able to tell you if the floors are in good shape, or if the fire warped them. The report should tell you whether there was a weakening of the support beams.
If the property has been deemed unstable by the fire department and may fall at any time, you can be sure that the house is a total tear down. At this time, you’ve got to ask yourself whether the insurance will cover it (assuming that the home was insured).
Isolate the property to avoid further damage
During the fire, your home was blasted with a lot of water in order to combat the flames. This means that you have even more repairs to make. It is imperative that you avoid letting it get worse. A home that has been exposed to the elements by fire damage can easily compound the destruction further. If the roof was burned into non-existence, a thunderstorm can create additional water damage on top of it – including in rooms that were unaffected by the fire.
The key to a repair of this magnitude, if the house is not a tear down, is to take action immediately. While the home is tightly tarped, the water needs to be removed immediately as to limit the effects of mold and wood rot. If a salvage is possible, it may lower your costs to recover any supplies that you can.
In many cases, homes are found with lead or asbestos, and these things have to be taken care of professionally before it can be further repaired. In some cases of rentals, it is not uncommon for the fire to be caused by a meth explosion, and that has a strict cleanup process which must be observed.
After the wound has been bandaged so that the bleeding stops, it is time to recover. This is when the soot and any residue from the smoke is collected from the ceilings, walls, floors, and any other items that need to be recovered. After this, the entire structure needs to be sanitized and cleaned properly. Anything that is not capable of being salvaged is hauled away.
Once the cleanup is completed, the property is ready for reconstruction. Make no mistake, this may be a full reconstruction depending on the amount of damage and what was able to be kept. Often times, fire damage can mean roof replacement, electrical work, support beams, drywall, painting, carpet and/or tile, and various other tasks that make a house “up to code”.
Does this process overwhelm you? Then it may be time to sell your house for cash right now. If so, reach out to us at (877)-990-7774 or fill out the form on this website.
Water damage, mold, warped wood, and more…
Water damage can sometimes be described as a better condition than fire damage, because in the case of a fire, there will be water damage from attempts to put it out. A water damaged home can still be a major problem however.
The beginning step in this scenario is the same as the last. A visual inspection needs to be done to analyze the situation. You need to document the damage, and be thorough. Find every surface that has been reached by the water. Failure to find the damage in its entirety can lead to black mold pretty quickly.
Standing water can be dangerous, and it needs to be removed fast. Puddles and anything they sat on top of will need to be removed. Carpet will not dry out fast enough and would need to be replaced. Drywall may not be salvageable and will have to be thrown out. Personal belongings will have to be assessed for whether or not they can be reclaimed. Depending on the depth of the water that was in your home, you may need to replace the kitchen cabinets as well.
Another concern with the standing water takes the water source into condition. Is it clean water from the pipes, or is it bacteria filled sewage water? Did it come out through the drinking water clean source, or did it originate from the toilet? This could represent a biohazard and require special cleanup procedures, resulting in an increasingly costly repair.
Commercial equipment would come in next and include things such as heaters, dehumidifiers, floor dryers, and fans. You need to generate some dry air, and get some air circulation going. This will kick in the evaporation effect and speed up the process. If you can control the moisture, then you can reduce the amount of mold that will appear. This entire process can take a few days to complete.
Once the water damage is mitigated, you can begin to rebuild. The inspection should be able to tell you what materials if any can be salvaged. If there are structural issues, it may lead to a complete teardown and rebuild.
Repairing or Selling a Fixer Upper?
Now that you are aware of the process, it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to fix it up. Is the location important to you, or is it too hard to let go because of memories? Can you afford to fix it, or do you need to sell it “as-is”?
If you’ve decided to let it go, then reach out to us at National Cash Offer by calling (877)-990-7774 or fill out the form on this website. We will help you out of this situation with a fast cash offer now.