Left “Before” Picture – Extensive smoke damage – Right “After” Picture – Looks brand new!
This job was caused by a grease fire on an electric range. The homeowners attempted to clean up the smoke with bleach at first but were unsuccessful. Special chemicals are needed to clean up this kind of sticky mess. Not only does this type of fire produce thick black smoke but it also splatters grease on everything within range of the stove. The smoke also entered multiple cabinets causing more damage.
To start the restoration we first had to clean the smoke with specialized degreaser and deodorizer chemicals. Without this crucial step, any smoke left behind leaves an odor and prevents paint from adhering to the walls and ceiling. Once the ceiling, walls, cabinets, refrigerator and range hood were scrubbed clean we were ready for the next step.
Extensive Ceiling Damage.
Due to the heat of the grease fire the wall and ceiling paint actually bubbled up. These paint blisters had to be scraped, sanded, patched and primed. Prior to priming, everything but the ceiling and walls had to be protected from paint spatters. The rest of the affected walls in the kitchen needed to be primed as well. In a smoke damage situation such as this, a specific primer with a shellac base has to be used. The primer has a strong odor so people and animals had to be vacated while everything was primed and we wore respirators to protect ourselves from the vapors. Whenever hot, dense smoke touches standard house paint it bonds with it and causes it to discolor even after cleaning. The priming step insures that this residual staining doesn’t bleed through the final coat of fresh paint.
Once the walls were primed it was time for a final coat of latex interior paint to match the original color and the unaffected areas of the home. We then reinstalled the cleaned switch plates and put the fridge, range, and range hood back in place. We finished with a final cleanup and everything looked as if nothing had happened!
Complete Service Restoration owner Ron restoring the walls from smoke damage.
The job came in from an email request for an estimate through Angie’s List. We called the potential customer as soon as we got the email and scheduled a visit at their earliest convenience. We assessed the extent of the damage and had an estimate to them that same evening. They received a lower estimate from another contractor which we not only matched but beat! The job took two days to complete once it was scheduled. They were so impressed with our work that they recommended us to a friend who had recently experienced a flood in their basement.
