On Apr 1, 8:49*am, ransley wrote:
On Mar 31, 2:48*am, Evan wrote:



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I assume your occupancy certificate was revoked due to the fire damage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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I want it fixed right the right way so there are no issues when its
95-100 outside with 90% humidity, Its a 14 unit with 4 badly affected
by smoke, only one burnt, 2 hallways, and 4 that have had smoke on
walls and its inside the walls opened up, I get code upgrade on the
insurance and have a fire restoration co. Im wondering if smoke that
traveled in the floors and walls will affect more than I can see or
smell now, since now the heat is off and its maybe 45f inside. 4 units
are still rented but one tenant moved *from the as she said smoke
smell was comming up through the radiator pipe openings, [what going
to happen when its 90f- 100f and 90% humidity?

I see what you are saying and agree, its a real mess, I had someone
just walk through yesterday and they got a headache and said they
never get headaches, its from the smoke smell.

*Floors are oak, and vinyl in kitchens, Can sanding oak cure whats
underneath that the smoke went through the ceilings? And will
Polyurethane keep out that smoke smell? What I am seeing is that smoke
damage is 90% - 95% of the problem and job cost.

Yes all that you have said I see as true, what a mess I have alot to
learn on my first fire. Its good I have code upgrades so I will be
calling the citys inspectors alot to be sure we do it right, but how
do you Know, if you open a wall several apartments away and test it
with a rubber sponge and its dark, *that smoke that will not smell
later comming in the fixtures and outlets etc? How do you test and
know when you are ok and to stop? I cant risk loosing tenants because
they complain about smoke next year when its 90f outside and the job
is closed and finished. What I do now will determine everything of the
future.


I don't have experience with smoke damaged wood flooring, but I have
seen a burnt-out area in a building where I used to work have the
concrete floor under the carpeting sandblasted and epoxy painted to
seal it in case of some future water issue...

What sort of fire alarm system did this building have installed prior
to the arson fire incident ? Might be worth some extra money spent
on your part to upgrade that even if it wouldn't be covered by anyone
as you wouldn't want to have any issues down the road...

Without knowing more about the layout of the building and where the
fire damage occurred I really can't offer specific advice as to what
to
do... It all depends on what has to be opened up and where... But
realistically like I said before, you will probably never be in a
position
to open up everything ever again unless another fire happens... This
is the time to do any upgrades you ever fantasized about doing as
there will never be a better time...

As to the tenants you have remaining in the building, have you
considered offering them reduced rental rates until the damages
can be repaired -- some rental revenue is better than none if they
decide to leave... Also setting up plastic containment areas and
a "sally port" between the occupied area and the damaged area
in any common access hallways then scrubbing down the occupied
areas even though they don't appear to be dirty would help any
odors dissipate faster... Do not allow any workers or people
coming to examine the fire scene to use the same entrance
to the building as the remaining occupants, they will track
the dirt and odor into the area where people have to live -- use
another entry even if it is inconvenient to access (such as
having to go downstairs to access a basement door and
come back up through the building where it would have been
much shorter to come in directly through the front door)...

I don't know what your situation is tenant wise, a lot of people
who have the means to move after a fire do so because of the
hassles of having to live elsewhere during the rebuilding phase
and a fire loss is one of the things in most leases that can
allow a tenant to break the lease without paying any penalty
or rent after the date of the fire, so many apartment renters
will do just that and only deal with moving once...

~~ Evan