On Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:21:07 -0700 (PDT), Evan
wrote:

On Mar 30, 11:24*pm, bob haller wrote:
On Mar 30, 10:32*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:



"ransley" wrote in message

...

* 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.

*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!!

I had some personal experience, but that was over 50 years ago. *Yes, the
smell can come back. *Cleaning technology has improved though, and they
should be able to make it undetectable.

You also need a good insurance adjuster. *They get 5% of your total claim,
but can get you a lot more money that you can negotiate yourself. *I know of
two examples where the insurance company offered little, but the adjuster
got lots for detail work, such as the cleaning you will need.
Restaurant fi *offer $24,000 *adjuster settlement $120,000
Industrial fi *Ins Co offer $1.2 million *adjuster settlement *$3
million+

Helped gut a friends fire damaged home. Its really impossible to scrub
out the smell of smoke, tobacco smoke or urine it aalways comes back
in moist weather.

All you can do is seal it in!

In the fire damaged areas gut and clean seal EVERYTHING with bin or
kilz primer sealer. Studs, framing the works. New insulation.

Then do the drywall work etc. Prime walls with that same bin or kilz.

Sand and refinish floors use OUTDOOR POLYURETHANE, seal odors in, cant
scrub out odors.

You basicaly do the kilz bin thing thru entire building.

Insurance should pay for bring fire damaged areas up to code, GFCIs,
insulation etc, you can make out on these.

The fire restoration companies are a rip off, they charge unreal
prices for nothing.

Toss all clothe covered furnishings they arent worth the effort! The
smell will never leave, unless you get them totally reupholstered. For
most modern sofas etc its cheaper to buy new


As ransley is the LANDLORD he and his insurance coverage is only
concerned with rebuilding and restoring the structure to its legally
required condition to be used as rental property...

Tenants are responsible for insuring the contents of their units
(their furniture, clothing, small appliances, etc.) which are not
provided by the landlord...

It depends on whose fault the fire was. I doubt it was the fault of
all the tenants or a group of them. More likely one of them, or
lightning, or much to the disgrace of this newsgroup, possibly Mr.
ransley.

The tenant's claims to their insurers for any damages to their
property is totally separate from ransley's loss and damage
claims for the building itself...

If they have insurance but the insurance company may well go after
whoever is at fault, especially if it is the owner of the building.


~~ Evan