Fire and flood damage causes millions of pounds worth of damage to residential and commercial properties every year.
Dealing with Fire and Flood damage is a job for experts. Sometimes it’s just not possible to save a building but more and more, thanks to the evolution of the materials used in modern construction and goods, items can be fully restored and repaired for the owner.
Whilst fire and flood are very different elements, the subsequent impact on a building is equally devastating. Regardless of the cause, it can be helpful to think about the next steps to ensure any salvageable goods are retrieved and the property made safe until it can be fully restored and returned to its original purpose.
Key Steps To Deal with Fire and Flood Damage
- Arrange a survey: to help minimise any future issues with insurers or the restoration process, make sure the damaged property is properly surveyed. Any damage sustained must be accounted for as part of an insurance claim, so this will help ensure that any work is completed to a pre-loss condition.
- Inspect what’s left: there may be goods or personal belongings that can be recovered from the damaged building so make sure these are removed before any restoration work starts. The chemicals within soot can erode some surfaces so it’s important to do this quickly following a space being cleared as safe. If you’re claiming through insurance, make sure any damaged items are properly inspected, documented and stored so that a detailed report can be provided as part of your claim. At this point, you will also need to arrange the removal of anything that cannot be recovered so that restoration work can begin.
- Make the building safe: boarding and roof traps may be used to make a building safe and secure whilst it is unoccupied.
- Removal of elements: for both flood and fire-damaged properties, it’s important to remove all of the water and moisture until everything remaining is dry. For fire damage specifically, smoke and soot residue will also need cleaning away to make a space habitable again.
- The clean-up: when the building is dry and clear of smoke and soot residue, it can be fully cleaned and sanitized with special chemical solutions designed for these types of damage
- Reconstruction: if particular elements of the building have been damaged, such as windows or walls, or entire rooms destroyed such as a kitchen, building work can then commence restoring the property back to its former state

Fire & Flood Experts
Dealing with the consequences of fire or flood damage can be time-consuming and expensive, but more than this it can be emotional to see something you own so severely damaged. There are increasingly sophisticated ways to restore and repair damaged goods following an emergency so should the worst happen to a building, all may not be lost.
If your property is suffering from fire damage or flood damage, speak to the experts at RFM to help get your building back in business.