Your Belongings and Fire Damage

Recovering the Items that Matter Most After a Chicago Housefire

There are many times where Chicago homeowners can get roused from sleep in the middle of the night to the beeping of the smoke alarms to find themselves amid a growing emergency. In these situations, you have to focus on one task exclusively – get everyone out safely. As much as you might have a thousand things you wish you could do as well, there is little to no time to protect any of your belongings or the structure itself in the limited window before it is too unsafe to re-enter the house.

How Do You Know How Bad the Loss Is?

Unfortunately, as skilled as firefighters are at quelling a raging inferno, they are often unable to tell you what belongings or areas of your Chicago home are still salvageable, and which are not. Once the property gets turned back over to you, SERVPRO professionals can thoroughly inspect the house to understand the situation and any present risks better.

• Can an upholstered couch get cleaned on-site?
• Can our technicians remove residue from picture frame glass?
• Will smoke odors ever come out of your curtains and clothing?

Who Pays for Content Cleaning?

In many cases, these seemingly advanced elements of fire recovery are all part of the general restoration process that our technicians offer homeowners and businesses in the area – meaning that your primary insurance often covers these services.

If You Have Questions or Need Help, Call Us Today – (773) 434-9100

Contents Restoration

SERVPRO of West Loop / Bucktown / Greektown specializes in restoring contents damaged by water, fire, or mold. Our expertise and “restore” versus “replace” mentality can help you save money while preserving precious keepsakes that can’t be replaced. We pretest your belongings to determine what items we can restore to pre-fire condition. We use several methods of cleaning your contents, including:

Dry Cleaning - Used for cleaning light residues or to pre-clean prior to wet cleaning.
Wet Cleaning - An effective cleaning method for removing moderate to heavy residues.
Spray and Wipe -Effective for items that can’t withstand wet cleaning.
Foam Cleaning - Used for upholstery fabrics that might shrink or bleed if wet cleaned.
Abrasive Cleaning - Involves agitation of the surface being cleaned.
Immersion Cleaning - Contents are dipped into a bath of the cleaning product.

Move-Outs/Pack-Outs

If your home requires extensive restoration or cleaning due to fire damage, SERVPRO of West Loop / Bucktown / Greektown can conduct an organized, efficient move-out of the affected area. Move-out will provide several benefits, including:

A quicker remodeling process
Protecting items from potential damage
Protecting contents from further on-site damage

When restoration is completed, we will work with you to coordinate the move-in according to your needs. The services offered upon move-in may depend on your insurance coverage.

Electronic Cleanup

Fire-damaged electronics can present a serious hazard. Do not attempt to turn on or operate any electrical device that you suspect has been damaged by fire. Smoke residues can contain acids that corrode metal surfaces. If the residues are not removed, corrosion causes electronic failure in the device. We will coordinate the restoration of your electronics, including:

Television sets
DVD players
Computers
And more

The key to restoring electronics is taking prompt action to prevent further damage. Electronics will be cleaned and inspected by a qualified electronics technician.

Document / Photograph Drying

When your valuable documents, including photographs, are damaged by water or fire, extreme caution should be taken to help ensure the fire damage does not destroy the document. Although some documents may not be restored to pre-fire damage condition, SERVPRO of West Loop / Bucktown / Greektown can save a great deal and help minimize additional damage.

Depending on the type of documents and the level of fire, smoke, or soot damage, they have five options for the restoration of documents:

Air Drying
Dehumidification
Freezer Drying
Vacuum Freeze Drying
Vacuum Thermal Drying

Contents Claim Inventory Service

When a fire emergency strikes, the damage can often feel overwhelming. We can help ease the worry and confusion during the recovery process by offering our Contents Claim Inventory Service (CCIS), which provides a detailed and accurate list of your belongings. We take a room-by-room inventory of your contents, including digital photos, and in some instances, bar coding.

Our Contents Claim Inventory Service: