On Mar 30, 8:08*pm, ransley wrote:
* *I had an apartment building fire with extensive smoke damage
affecting many apartments with smoke damage only. I have been told by
many contractors that when it is near 90f outside and humid the smoke
smell will re occur if it is not removed now. *It can get to 100f, 85%
humidity here, and there is no central air so I have prime weather for
re activating the dormant smoke smell. I have been told the high heat
periods are when the tenants will complain and move.

* My question is *does smoke that travels through the walls come back
into the next apartments through the openings, and outlets , walls?
Do any of you have direct fire , smoke damage experiance, *and have
any ideas on *to how far a rebuild has to go? *Are there any Fire Pro
guys out there? . The job keeps looking worse!

* I dont want the insurance co to cut me short!! *Does anyone have
actual fire- apartment- smoke - experiance here, With the building
open now, it will be July 2012 before I know if this years work was
enough to combat the smoke damage.


Well ransley the question here is whether you want the work done
right so you will never have any complaints in the future, or you
choose
to go along with only what your insurance will cover and deal with any
issues that come up later on by yourself out-of-pocket once the claim
has been settled...

Umm... As far as my fire damage experience goes, it is limited to
commercial buildings... Complete stripping of any sheetrock in the
fire/heavy smoke damaged areas and any carpeting which had contact
with the odor and/or run off water from the fire fighting efforts
spoil it...

How many units in the building ? How many effected by the damage ?

If you are opening up the walls, that might open up a can of worms...
Would the electrical be up to current code ? Plumbing ? Would you
have to install sprinkler protection (not sure what your local codes
are)...

I assume your occupancy certificate was revoked due to the fire damage
for at least several of the worst damaged units if not the entire
building...

The questions you should be asking your local AHJ is "What do I need
to do to pass inspection and get new certificates of occupancy?"
rather
than what you should be going back and forth with your insurance
company
over... Prioritize the work by repairing the less damaged units so
you
can get some rental revenue back ASAP, but in order to do that you
need
to know what the scope of your work will be as far as what the AHJ is
going to require, not what your insurance company proposes you should
be compensated for...

You are either going to be spending your own money to get the project
going and battling with your insurer via an adjuster to get
compensated
or you will be getting payouts in increments for work specifically
approved
by the insurance company... Fighting to include work being required
by
the AHJ that the insurance company debates whether or not it should be
covered by the loss because the building has not been upgraded over
the
years prudently to keep up with the changes in the code
requirements...

As far as the smoke smell coming back -- what are the floors made of ?
Wood should be sanded and resealed with exterior polyurethane like
others have suggested... Carpets and padding should be discarded and
replaced, the sub-floor surface under any carpeting should be
sealed...

The concept is encapsulation the same with mold/water damage issues...

If you are concerned about the smells which are trapped inside the
walls
the only way to prevent that from being an issue is to gut the walls,
paint
anything structural which you will not remove and replace to
encapsulate
any odors which have been deposited and then rebuild the walls...

If the building is very old, this will give you an unprecedented
opportunity
to upgrade things which you would never have done under normal
circumstances -- if you are able to access any capital to reinvest in
your
apartment building now is the time to upgrade electrical, rewire rooms
so you can control wall outlets via a switch loop, install better
telephone,
cable and internet facilities which your tenants can utilize... Does
each
individual unit have its own water shut off valves so you can do work
in
one unit without shutting down the water to the entire building ? You
can
add sprinkler protection if your building doesn't have it now, every
wall
cavity can be insulated with mineral wool insulation adding more
passive
fire protection and sound deadening between the units and even rooms
within the same unit... Through this disaster you are being given an
opportunity to do a lot of things to bring your building into the
modern
era that most property owners would never dream of doing to a fully
rented apartment house... It all depends on whether you can access
funds and how thorough you want to be in making sure there will be
no further issues down the road... I mean if your tenants are
displaced
and rent elsewhere during the repair work, would you be informing the
new tenants that there was fire damage and that the building wasn't
gutted and fully repaired to ensure no smells or mold would occur in
the future from that disaster ? How long do you want to keep making
that disclosure before you can say you fully rebuilt the interiors of
the
effected units ? It isn't something you can just paint Kilz over and
walk away from especially if it is an older building...

~~ Evan