Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration

Fire damage does not stop when the fire does

Smoke and soot are acidic and keep etching surfaces, corroding metal, and staining walls for days. Lingering odor works its way into everything porous. Acting quickly protects what can still be saved.

Our fire and smoke process

• Emergency board-up and roof tarping to secure the property
• Soot and smoke residue removal from every surface
• Professional deodorization that neutralizes odor, not masks it
• Contents cleaning and recovery of salvageable belongings
• Full reconstruction, from a single room to the whole home

Why homeowners choose Restorehaus

• 24/7 emergency response with crews on standby in Westchester, Putnam, Lower Fairfield, NYC and Northern New Jersey
• IICRC certified, licensed, and fully insured
• One team from mitigation through full reconstruction
• We document everything and bill your insurance directly

Why fire cleanup is a chemistry problem

Most of what a fire destroys, it destroys after the flames are out. Soot is acidic, and left on a surface it keeps etching, corroding, and staining. Metal fixtures pit, marble and stone discolor, appliance finishes yellow, and grout darkens permanently. What could have been cleaned in the first days becomes replacement work in the following weeks. That is why fire response is urgent even when the structure looks stable.

Different fires leave different residues

Cleaning method depends on what burned. A dry, fast-burning fire in paper and wood leaves a powdery residue that lifts with dry methods. A slow, smoldering fire, or one involving plastics, synthetics, or protein such as a kitchen fire, leaves a sticky, greasy film that smears if you touch it with anything wet. Using the wrong method on the wrong residue drives it into the surface and turns a cleanable wall into a wall that needs sealing and repainting. Identifying the residue before touching it is the difference between restoration and damage.

Securing the building first

Before cleaning starts, the property has to be safe and closed to weather. That means emergency board-up of broken windows and doors, roof tarping where the roof was opened or burned through, and often temporary power. Fire suppression also means water, so a fire loss is frequently a water loss underneath, with extraction and structural drying running alongside the soot work.

Dry first, wet second

Loose soot comes off dry, before any liquid is introduced. HEPA vacuuming lifts particulate without pushing it back into the air, and dry chemical sponges pull oily soot off painted walls and ceilings without water or pressure. Only after that pass do cleaning agents come out, selected for each surface. Porous materials that hold residue after cleaning are documented and removed rather than sealed over.

Odor is a source problem, not an air freshener problem

Smoke odor persists because microscopic residue remains in porous materials, in the HVAC system, and in the cavities of the building. Fogging or ozone on their own do not solve it, they cover it, and the smell returns on the first humid day. Real deodorization means removing the residue, cleaning the duct system so it stops recirculating particulate, sealing surfaces that absorbed odor, and only then treating the air. Contents are handled by material, and some porous items do not survive.

How long it takes

A contained single-room fire with light smoke may be cleaned in days. Heavy smoke through a whole house, with contents handling and reconstruction, runs weeks to months. The variables are the size of the fire, how far smoke traveled, how much has to be rebuilt, and how quickly the insurance scope is approved. We give you a real timeline after the inspection.