The effects of a fire can be devastating and costly to repair. When combined with water damage, fire restoration is one of the most difficult restoration fixes. Getting a structure to look and smell like it did pre-fire is a daunting task. Plus, trying to determine if a wood structure is sound can be almost impossible if it is heavily charred.
Recently, a school in Hempstead, Long Island was victim to a lightning strike causing a fire. The destruction was awful; so much so, the students did not know if they would have a school to attend . The scaffolding alone was a tremendous project. In order to fix the problem, the school relied on the technique called dry-ice blasting. It can only be done by professionals. We are a company that has been solving fire damage issues for years. Using recycled-industrial carbon-dioxide (known as RICE) pellets they are fed through an air compressor and as the pellets hit the burnt areas they sublimate, turning from a solid to a gas and expanding about 800 times in volume acting like thousands of micro-explosions on the surface. This strips away the char while salvaging the underlying substrate.
After dry ice blasting, the burnt area can be evaluated and determined if it needs to be replaced or can be repaired. If it can be repaired, a fire restoration expert will paint the area with a primer/sealant. This will encapsulate and seal the smoke smell, while simultaneously acting as a primer that will allow new paint to be applied.
The entire process is done in a timely and safe manner, ensuring the damaged structures are not further compromised. We were glad to be apart of this project and make the building safe again for students to return to.