A damaging fire can upend your life. If the fire is at your home, you may have to relocate and find someplace to stay during repairs. If it’s at your business, you’re losing money every day you have to stay closed.
In either case, you might be asking: “How long does the fire damage restoration process take?” The time necessary depends on the extent of the damage, from a few days to several months.
Minor Damage
Minor fire damage is localized. There was a small fire that burned for a short time in one room. It was extinguished without the extensive use of water. The fire damage is in one place, and the smoke didn’t saturate the house.
In this situation, fire damage restoration will likely take between a few days to a week to complete. There will be some need for minor repairs and cleaning. With even a small fire, there will still be a need for smoke odor removal, though it may be confined to one room, and we can do it in place without having to remove it to our state-of-the-art cleaning facility.
Moderate Damage
For a more extensive fire, one that burned for a long time or grew large in one room or area, the restoration process will take longer. For a fire of this size, firefighters likely showed up and used water to extinguish the blaze.
In this process, expect several weeks to complete fire damage restoration. Water extraction can take several days, and demolition can take several days as well. Structural repairs can take weeks to complete. This may include removing and repairing parts of the roof and/or floor. There may be damage to electrical systems and/or HVAC.
Meanwhile, there is a need for more comprehensive smoke and soot removal. Even if the fire was contained to one part of the house, the smoke probably wasn’t. Some items will probably have to be removed to be sufficiently cleaned. Sometimes plaster, insulation, or other parts of the house or business are so saturated that it makes sense to remove them rather than try to clean them.
The complexity of the project itself starts to add length. With several contractors required to handle the different systems, it can be hard to coordinate the different tasks, especially without an experienced professional coordinator to monitor the timing.
Severe Damage
With severe fire damage that affected much or even most of the building, restoration will take many weeks to six months or more to complete.
Water extraction may take even longer, with the possibility that some areas might be too saturated to adequately remove water before mold and mildew set in, requiring the removal of drywall, insulation, and other components to speed the process. You may need to go through a triage process, determining where you want to focus on water removal and preservation of the original structure and what places make more sense to simply demolish and repair or replace.
You’ll have to do a similar triage process with the contents of the damaged spaces. You can decide what is worth restoring and what is better replaced. The items marked for restoration will have to be removed to our facility for special drying and cleaning.
The complexity of the project multiplies at this point. Demolition and debris removal alone may take a week. It’s likely that most systems in the house were damaged and may need repair, including electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. Major sections of the roof may need to be demolished and replaced.
Meanwhile, anything remaining inside the structure will need to be thoroughly cleaned in what can be a time-consuming process.
Once all the structural and systemic components of the restoration are complete, it’s time for the finishing restoration. Flooring will need to be replaced in multiple rooms. Insulation and drywall will need to be reinstalled. Painting, finish carpentry, and replacement of other wall coverings also take time. There may be some final smoke and mildew odor removal.
Finally, restored and replacement furnishings will move back into the space.
FLEET Response Has the Tools and Knowledge to Speed the Process
The only way to know for sure how long your fire damage restoration process will take is to talk to an expert. At FLEET Response, we have the advanced tools and expert knowledge to move the process along as quickly as possible.
With our 24/7 emergency response services, we’re prepared to get started on your fire damage restoration as soon as possible, and starting sooner can shave time off the process. Once we arrive, our experienced, expert inspectors will go through the building and give you a reliable estimate of how long the process will take. We handle every aspect of the process, and we know how to efficiently juggle the different parts of a complex restoration to complete your project faster and more efficiently.
Although there are some parts of the process that cannot be rushed, in other situations, it might be possible to speed fire damage restoration by hiring more crew, renting additional equipment, and other strategies. When this is an option, we will let you know.
If your home or business in has suffered fire damage, work with a restoration company that can complete the process correctly and efficiently. At FLEET Response, we’re your go-to fire damage restoration provider, giving you peace of mind that your home or business will be restored to its original condition as quickly as possible.
Contact us today to schedule an appointment. FLEET Response provides comprehensive fire damage restoration services in .