What You Need to Know to Save Money & Protect Yourself & Your Family When Cleaning
a Fire Damaged House
Something that a lot of homeowners don’t think about right away after experiencing a house fire is the cleanup.
Depending on the size of the fire, your cleanup may be extensive or it may be more manageable; in either case, you need to plan properly to save yourself time, money, and frustration, especially if you’re considering whether to restore the property to its original state or to sell a fire-damaged house.
Also, cleaning up after a house fire can be dangerous to your health so you need to be careful and take the proper safety precautions during the entire process.
Here are some tips to ensure your house fire cleanup goes as smoothly as possible.
1. Assess the damage
If you have suffered a serious house fire, the first decision you need to make is if you can handle the cleanup yourself or if you should hire a company to do it, as this initial step can significantly impact your options and strategies for selling a fire-damaged house.
One thing to keep in mind here is that smoke and soot damage can be very hazardous to your health. That’s why it is often a good idea to hire a professional cleanup company to come in after the fire.
The company’s workers are trained and outfitted in proper safety gear allowing them to handle the house fire cleanup as safely as possible.
However, there may be instances when the house fire damage is relatively minor or there are financial issues and you’ll need to complete the cleanup yourself.
In that case, be sure to wear a mask and gloves and clothing that you don’t mind if it gets dirty. You may also need eye protection, such as safety glasses.
2. Take inventory before starting to clean
To save yourself time and frustration during the cleanup process go through everything in your house first.
Separate it into categories – keep, throw away, sell and donate. If you are like most families not everyone is going to agree on every item so handling this before “cleaning out day” can make things a lot less stressful on that day.
By doing this first, you can also avoid cleaning items that you later decide not to keep. Deciding first, saves you time and a lot of hard work.
3. Go one room at a time when cleaning
After you have gone through the house and decided what is salvageable and what is not, it is time to start the cleaning.
But first a word of warning: if your house has suffered fire damage in a number of different areas the whole cleanup process can seem overwhelming, which can then make you apprehensive to start. You think, “there is no way that I can cleanup all of this mess.”
For that reason, don’t look at the whole house when cleaning. Focus your energy and efforts on one room. When that room is cleaned up, then move on to the next room.
4. Clean carefully and thoroughly
Smoke particles can get into flooring, the walls, furniture, drapery, air ducts and more. Soot can be very difficult to remove. For these reasons, your cleaning efforts need to be deliberate and thorough.
After cleaning a room, be sure to go back over it again with a disinfectant to kill germs and remove smoke particles.
Here are some more cleaning tips: as we said earlier, when cleaning always wear surgical or rubber gloves and a mask. Then when you are done for the day, wash your hands thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap. Also, avoid biting your nails during the cleanup process – when on site or at home later.
Finally, use two buckets when cleaning – one with cleaner and the other with plain water. This helps keep the dirty rinse water out of your cleaning solution.
5. One more house fire cleanup tip – get a dumpster
You can rent a dumpster and have it brought to your property and then you can start filling it with items that were too damaged in the fire to keep. Keep in mind that dumpsters can be expensive.
Want to avoid the cost of a dumpster & the time and money associated with a house fire cleanup?
Dumpsters aren’t cheap to rent – if you want to avoid the expense of renting a dumpster for the cleaning out of your fire-damaged house … just sell to us!
We Buy Fire Damaged Houses offers great prices and we pay all cash so you get your money fast! Plus, when you work with us there are no extra fees and no commissions. In other words, we put more cash in your pocket!
We also save you from the drudgery – and possible negative health effects – of cleaning a fire damaged house.
Remember, breathing in smoke damage can cause:
- Respiratory Issues – unfortunately, small smoke particles can become embedded in carpet and furniture and breathing them in over time can result in breathing issues and even more serious conditions like lung cancer.
- Skin Damage – Smoke residue can also irritate your skin and often the irritation can become so severe that regular skin lotion is not enough to get rid of it.
- Eye Irritation – Left over smoke particles can cause red, watery, itchy eyes and if left untreated more serious damage could occur.
Selling to us can also help you avoid having to hire an expensive professional cleanup company and a contractor.
We buy houses “as is” so you don’t have to do any cleaning or repair work. You also won’t have to go through the often frustrating fire-damaged house selling process. In most cases, your house may be on the market for a long time and when it finally sells it can often be for a price that is lower than what you hoped.
If you decide you want to avoid the hassles of repairing a home after a fire by selling it, We Buy Fire Damaged Houses is a leading purchaser of fire damaged homes. Just fill out the short form below to contact us and potentially receive an offer for your house.