The First Steps to Take After a Fire

You have just suffered extensive fire damage to your Knoxville home in and while your family is safe, you may be feeling overwhelmed by everything involved in the fire restoration process. While said process may be long, there are only a few simple things you need to do to get it started.

1. Call the insurance company. Sanitizing, smoke cleaning and full restoration are likely to be expensive, but your fire insurance policy will probably cover a large portion of the cost. The first thing you want to do, therefore, is get the claims process started. The company will usually send an adjuster to assess the damage firsthand and calculate the amount of the settlement. The sooner you call your insurance company, the sooner the money for the fire restoration work may arrive.

2. Don’t touch anything. The second step may be the hardest. It may seem like a good idea to start to clean up, but without the proper chemicals and equipment, your efforts may actually make the problem worse. Common household cleaners or abrasives can ingrain stubborn soot into surfaces. Moving items before they’ve been tested can spread contamination. Your best course of action is to check into a hotel or stay at the home of a friend or family member so that you won’t be tempted to clean.

3. Call in the experts. Fire restoration specialists at Rocky Top Restoration in Knoxville, TN have the experience and supplies to conduct proper smoke cleaning services, so it makes sense to call them as soon as you are settled in your temporary home away from home. One of the first things they will do is secure your home by boarding up broken windows and covering holes in the roof with tarps. This keeps the current problem in and other potential problems out.

Fire restoration begins by securing funding, your family and your home. After you have done that, your restoration experts can guide you through the rest of the process.