How Long Does Fire Restoration Take?
The timeline to get back to normalcy
The process can take anywhere from two weeks to 12 months, depending on the damage.
Structural repairs will take the longest and have the biggest impact on your timeline.
Contact your homeowner’s insurance company about alternative living arrangements while your professionals are working.
A house fire is a devastating catastrophe that can take a long time to recover from. But how long does fire restoration take, and when can you expect to be back to normalcy? In this quick guide, we’ll explain the average timeline, some things that affect the length, and what to expect from start to finish.
How Long Does Fire Damage Restoration Take?
Fire damage restoration takes an average of four months, but it could take anywhere from two weeks to 12 months, depending mostly on the extent and type of fire damage and how quickly your homeowner’s insurance company moves to approve the restoration work.
Factors that Affect Your Timeline
There’s such a wide range when it comes to the timeline because there are many factors that affect how much work you need done and how quickly things get started.
The Severity of the Damage
The most significant factor to consider is the extent of the damage. A small fire that you or a professional were able to extinguish quickly could just have caused damage to a single room or area of your home, which will always take less time to restore than an entire floor or structure. The fire restoration professionals you hire may be able to treat smoke damage and replace damaged materials in just two weeks.
For larger fires that affect big portions of your home, you’re more likely looking at eight to 12 months for the restoration. More severe fires can cause damage to structural components, roofing, flooring, and everything in between, which can take a long time to treat and rebuild.
Damage from Extinguishing
Fire and smoke damage will account for the bulk of the damage that your professionals need to restore, but you’ll also need to consider the damage caused by the process of putting the fire out. Your local fire restoration company will need to remove the potentially harmful chemicals from fire extinguishers, or they may need to repair water damage and remove mold growth if a firefighter puts out the fire with water. Mold remediation alone can take a week or two and can extend your fire restoration timeline quite a bit.
Your Insurance Company’s Protocol
The entire restoration process depends on your homeowner’s insurance company and how quickly they’re able to grant approvals. Approval timelines will also vary based on the cost of fire damage restoration, with higher amounts generally taking longer to get approval for.
Fire Damage Restoration Process
What, exactly, takes so long? The process of cleaning up and restoring your home after a fire involves a few key steps.
It’s important to note that these are general timelines, and yours may vary widely depending on the extent of the damage.
How to Speed Up the Fire Damage Restoration Process
There are a few fire damage restoration tips you can use to get back to normalcy a bit sooner.
Act quickly: Contact your insurance company and find a restoration company immediately after a fire.
Work with a reliable fire restoration company: Reliable contractors will help the insurance approval process go more smoothly.
Stay in communication: Communicate with both your insurance provider and the restoration company to stay in the loop and keep things moving along.
Frequently Asked Questions
The first step is removing water or chemical residue, if applicable, after extinguishing. Next, your professional will clean up soot, remove damaged materials, treat the smoke damage, and complete any necessary structural repairs. After that, your pro will begin the build-back process and install finishes to restore your home to its previous condition.
It can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to clean smoke damage, depending mostly on the extent of the damage and the method your professional uses. Ozone smoke restoration is a popular option that takes just 24 to 48 hours, but you may need multiple treatments to remove odors. For major house fires, it might be a better option to replace smoke-damaged materials, which could take six to 12 months.
Repairing a fire-damaged home could cost anywhere from $2,000 to $200,000 or more—it all depends on the extent of the damage and the quality of the materials you use. In most cases, your homeowner’s insurance company will cover the majority of the repairs. If you’re buying a home with fire damage, though, it’s best to get an estimate from a fire damage restoration company to estimate the repairs before closing.
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