After water or fire damage, a house changes fast. Wet drywall gets dried or thrown out, burned framing gets cut away, and a week later nobody remembers what the room looked like. So on every job we keep one file for the house. This is what goes in it.
Photos
Every room, wide and close, before we touch anything. Then again as walls and floors are opened and when the work is done.
Moisture readings
We read walls, floors and ceilings with moisture meters and note the date and the spot. A wet wall on day one and a dry wall on the last day are both on paper.
Thermal camera images
A thermal camera shows cool, wet areas behind a finish that looks fine from the room. It tells us where to look, and a meter confirms it. Here is how thermal cameras find hidden water.
Daily drying logs
Every day the equipment runs, we write down the readings and what changed. See our water damage and drying page for how a drying job runs.
What was opened and what was behind it
Wet bottom plates, soaked insulation, burned framing, soot in the attic. If a wall comes open and the damage is bigger or smaller than it looked, that goes in the file with a photo.
A written scope
The repair list comes from those notes: rooms, materials and quantities. We write it after the house is open and dry, not before, because a first look can only show the surface. Our post on why fire damage estimates change after demolition explains it from the fire side.
The first day
- You Call us. We answer 24/7 and ask what happened and whether the house is stable.
- We can start drying or board-up the same day. See emergency board-up.
- We photograph, take readings and set equipment.
- We write down what we found. The rebuild starts once the structure is dry enough. See our process.
You can see how this looks on real jobs on our projects page. For fire work, start at fire damage restoration and smoke and soot restoration. If water is the problem tonight, read what to do the first night and then get in touch.