Fire Damage Restoration Services in Edwardsville, IL

After the fire trucks leave a Edwardsville home, what remains is a structure that is wet from suppression water, coated in acidic soot and saturated with smoke odor, often with openings to the weather. Water Restoration connects you with local fire damage restoration crews that secure the property, remove the water, clean the soot, eliminate the odor and rebuild.

Edwardsville is a smaller community in Illinois, home to roughly 26,700 residents, with a mix of historic homes, post-war neighborhoods and newer construction, with farms and acreage properties nearby. Home fires peak in winter, when space heaters, fireplaces and furnaces are running and holiday cooking and decorating add risk.

Fire and smoke damage we handle in Edwardsville

Older housing stock adds aging plumbing, cast iron drains and original wiring to the list of things that fail. Older electrical systems are a leading cause of fires in this housing stock.

• Small fires that were extinguished quickly but filled the house with smoke
• Space heater, fireplace and chimney fires during cold weather
• Candle and holiday decoration fires
• Lightning-caused attic and roof fires
• Furnace malfunctions at the start of heating season
• Electrical fires from aging wiring, overloaded circuits and outdated panels
• Oil furnace puff-backs that coat every room in soot
• Garage, workshop and vehicle fires

Soot, odor and water: three clocks running at once

Soot is acidic. Within hours it discolors plastics and countertops; within days it etches glass, pits metal and permanently stains grout. Smoke odor penetrates drywall, insulation and upholstered contents and becomes harder to remove each day. Meanwhile the water used to put out the fire is soaking into the same materials, starting the mold clock that every water loss faces.

That is why restoration companies in Edwardsville aim to be on site within a day or two of the fire even when reconstruction will take months. Board-up protects the property; extraction and drying stop the water damage; and the first cleaning pass removes the most corrosive residue.

Our fire damage restoration process in Edwardsville

1. Emergency contact and safety check. Once the fire department releases the property, the crew evaluates structural stability, utilities and air quality.
2. Securing the structure. Broken openings are boarded, damaged roofing tarped and the site secured.
3. Water removal and drying. Suppression water is extracted and the structure dried to prevent secondary damage and mold.
4. Soot and smoke removal. Surfaces are cleaned with dry sponges, HEPA vacuuming and the chemistry matched to the type of residue; ductwork is cleaned.
5. Contents inventory, pack-out and cleaning. Salvageable belongings are documented, cleaned on or off site and stored; non-salvageable items are listed for the claim.
6. Deodorization at the source, sealing of framing and subfloor, and reconstruction of damaged areas to code.

Contents: what is cleanable and what is not

More than most people expect. Glass, ceramics, metal and sealed wood clean well. Many textiles are restorable with specialty laundering and ozone. Electronics that were not exposed to heat can often be cleaned and tested, and documents and photos can be freeze-dried. Items generally not salvageable include food and medicine exposed to heat or smoke, melted plastics, mattresses, particleboard furniture and heavily sooted drywall and insulation.

Pricing, estimates and insurance claims

Fire restoration costs in Edwardsville vary enormously, from a few days of cleaning after a contained kitchen fire to months of reconstruction after a structural fire.

Fire is a named peril on standard policies. Expect the claim to involve a structural estimate, a contents inventory and, if you cannot stay in the home, additional living expense coverage.

Ask the crew to walk you through the estimate and the claim process; good documentation from day one is the best way to get a claim paid.

Edwardsville neighborhoods and ZIP codes covered

Fire restoration crews dispatched through Water Restoration cover ZIP codes 62025 and 62026 in Madison County.

The same crews also serve nearby communities including Glen Carbon (3 mi), South Roxana (5 mi), Maryville (7 mi), Roxana (7 mi), Hartford (7 mi), Troy (7 mi), Wood River (8 mi), Bethalto (8 mi), Hamel (8 mi) and East Alton (8 mi). If you are just outside Edwardsville, call anyway; coverage areas overlap.

Why Edwardsville property owners call Water Restoration

• Calls are answered 24 hours a day, including nights, weekends and holidays
• The companies we work with deal with insurance adjusters daily and can bill covered mitigation directly to your carrier
• One number covers water, fire, smoke, mold, sewage and biohazard emergencies
• You can ask about licensing, insurance and IICRC certification before any work begins, and you should
• There is no cost or obligation to call and talk through what you are seeing