The construction half of a fire loss

Cleaning a fire and rebuilding one are separate phases with a hard boundary between them. Nothing goes back until the surfaces behind it are clean, dry and free of odor, because a wall closed over damp charred framing will smell for years. This page covers what happens after the soot work is finished.

Deciding what stays

Char depth is measured, not estimated. Surface charring on a heavy framing member often leaves sound wood beneath it that can be cleaned back and kept; deep char, cupped and alligatored, means the member has lost section and comes out. Sheathing, subfloor and roof decking are judged the same way. Steel that has been through sustained heat is assessed for deflection rather than for appearance, because painted steel can look fine and still have moved.

Everything kept has to be dry before it is covered. Hose water and sprinkler discharge soak framing that then sits in Delta humidity, and closing a wall over wet lumber traps both the moisture and the odor. Drying to verified readings comes before insulation, before board, before trim.

1. You callOne number per county. The dispatcher takes the address, the ZIP and a short description of what happened.
2. A local crew calls backAn independent restoration contractor already working that county rings you directly and sets a time.
3. They look, then scope itNothing is priced from a phone call. The crew walks the building, takes readings, and writes a scope you can hand to your adjuster.

Rebuilding what this city is built of

Most houses here sit on a slab, which simplifies part of the job and complicates another. There is no floor structure to replace, but heat that reached a slab can spall the top surface and cook the moisture out of the concrete, and any new flooring goes down over a slab that has been tested for moisture first. Wall repairs stop at the bottom plate, and the plate itself is replaced where it charred or stayed saturated.

The commercial side of West Memphis rebuilds differently. The East Broadway historic district holds 22 mostly single-story brick vernacular buildings put up between 1930 and 1950, some with Art Deco detail, listed on the National Register on July 24, 2008. In buildings like those the masonry shell usually survives while the interior does not, and the rebuild is a matter of new framing and finishes inside an old envelope. Shared party walls have to be dealt with as part of the scope rather than at the end, and any owner planning exterior changes on a listed building should check what programs or reviews their work touches before ordering materials.

Order of work, and where the delays come from

The usual order is stabilization and board-up, scene release, contents removal, demolition of unsalvageable material, drying, cleaning and odor treatment, then rough trades, then finishes. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical rough-in come back before insulation and board, and any duct system that carried smoke is cleaned or replaced at that stage rather than after the ceilings close.

Two things commonly stall the schedule. One is an open cause investigation: when a fire's origin is still under review by the department's Fire Marshal's Division, the interior may need to stay as it is, though weather protection normally proceeds. The other is insurance scope agreement on items that are borderline — a joist that could be cleaned or replaced, a roof section that could be patched or redone. Documenting those with photographs and moisture readings while the building is still open is what keeps the argument short.

Questions people actually ask

Use the number above and the contractor will take it from there.