Detroit Fire Damage Restoration

After the fire trucks leave a Detroit 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.

Properties in Detroit (Wayne County) range over a huge range of property types, from century-old homes to new construction, mid-rise apartments and office and retail space. Home fires peak in winter, when space heaters, fireplaces and furnaces are running and holiday cooking and decorating add risk.

Types of fire losses in Detroit, MI

Property owners in Detroit deal with the same regional risks found throughout Michigan. Michigan homes almost always have basements, and sewer backups and sump failures during intense summer rain, plus burst pipes and ice dams in winter, make up most of the state's water damage. Lake-effect snow and heavy roof loads add to the risk on the west side of the state. Problems tend to peak during winter and the spring thaw, but plumbing failures and appliance leaks happen in every month of the year.

• Candle and holiday decoration fires
• Space heater, fireplace and chimney fires during cold weather
• Oil furnace puff-backs that coat every room in soot
• Electrical fires from aging wiring, overloaded circuits and outdated panels
• Clothes dryer lint fires
• Lightning-caused attic and roof fires
• Smoke damage from a fire in a neighboring home or apartment unit
• Furnace malfunctions at the start of heating season

Soot, odor and water: three clocks running at once

Three forms of damage continue after the flames are out. Soot residue corrodes and stains surfaces progressively. Odor molecules migrate deeper into porous materials. And suppression water, often hundreds of gallons, swells, delaminates and eventually grows mold in everything it touched. Early stabilization changes what can be saved.

Emergency services on the first visit typically include board-up and tarping, water extraction, HEPA air filtration, protection of unaffected areas and an initial inventory of contents, with full cleaning and reconstruction following.

From board-up to rebuild

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. Suppression water cleanup. Extraction and drying equipment address the water left by firefighting.
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. Odor removal with thermal fogging, hydroxyl or ozone and sealing of structural surfaces, followed by full reconstruction.

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 Detroit 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.

Areas we serve in and around Detroit

We route calls from all 21 Detroit ZIP codes, including 48201, 48222, 48226 to restoration companies that work Detroit and Wayne County every week.

ZIP codes served in Detroit: 48201, 48222, 48226, 48231, 48232, 48242, 48244, 48255, 48260, 48264, 48265, 48266 and 9 more.

The same crews also serve nearby communities including River Rouge (2 mi), Ecorse (4 mi), Melvindale (4 mi), Dearborn (5 mi), Lincoln Park (5 mi), Allen Park (6 mi), Wyandotte (7 mi), Garden City (7 mi), Southgate (8 mi) and Dearborn Heights (9 mi). If you are just outside Detroit, call anyway; coverage areas overlap.

Why Detroit property owners call Water Restoration

• Restoration companies in the network are independent local businesses; confirm their licensing and insurance and get the scope in writing
• The companies we work with deal with insurance adjusters daily and can bill covered mitigation directly to your carrier
• We route you to a local company that already works in Detroit and Wayne County
• One number covers water, fire, smoke, mold, sewage and biohazard emergencies
• There is no cost or obligation to call and talk through what you are seeing