Southlake fire & water damage restoration — contents, millwork, HVAC, rebuild

Fire damage restoration in Southlake

A fire in a finished Southlake house is rarely only a framing problem. It is contents, millwork, doors, cabinets and the air handler, and every one of those has to be decided piece by piece. The Public Restoration Company handles the building side after the fire department leaves: board-up, smoke and soot cleanup, drying, and a rebuild that puts back what was in the house, as part of our wider fire damage restoration work. If the house is open, call us.

After a fire in a finished Southlake house

Wait for the fire crew to clear the scene before you re-enter. Then the first jobs are the same everywhere: protect the openings, photograph before anyone cleans, and stop soot from being spread by foot traffic and by the HVAC system. In a house with hardwood, large tile and custom millwork, what you protect early decides what can be saved later.

Board-up and protecting finished interiors

We board and tarp broken windows, burned eaves and roof openings first, so rain does not reach finished floors and cabinets. Where the interior is still in good condition, protecting it is part of the board-up, not an afterthought. See emergency board-up.

Contents: inventory before cleaning or discard

A kitchen fire here is contents, HVAC and millwork, not just framing. We inventory what is in the affected rooms with the structure, and what gets cleaned or replaced is decided piece by piece, not as a room-wide package. Photograph contents before anything leaves the house. Our contents-in-place fire project shows that approach.

Soot on millwork, doors and cabinets

Soot on custom doors is not a wipe-down. Hard surfaces often clean. Porous materials, insulation and some cabinetry do not, and we document the difference so the decision is visible. We do not seal odor into a finish. Source first, then clean or replace, then seal only where the material is sound. See smoke and soot restoration.

HVAC and the whole-house air path

If the air handler ran during or after the fire, soot can be in the returns, supplies and ducts of rooms that never burned. We check the system as part of the scope instead of only the visible rooms. Do not run the HVAC system until it has been looked at.

Firefighting water under hardwood and tile

Hardwood and big tile hide water. Hose water can sit under finished flooring and inside cabinet bases while the surface looks fine. We use meters, not a walk-through, and place fans and dehumidifiers where the readings are. See structural drying.

The Fire Marshal's investigation: what to leave alone

The City of Southlake says its Fire Marshal's office is responsible for fire investigations and treats every fire scene as a possible crime scene so evidence of the cause is preserved. If an investigation is under way, do not clean, move or discard anything in the area of origin until the investigators release it. We will work around it.

What to document before cleanup

• Wide and close photos of each affected room, including ceilings and the inside of cabinets.
• Soot on custom doors, trim and built-ins before anything is wiped.
• Hardwood and tile where hose water reached.
• Contents, room by room, before they leave the house.
• The HVAC returns and registers.

Who handles what in Southlake

• Southlake Fire Department and Fire Marshal's office: emergency response and fire investigation. The city's Fire Marshal's office also does fire and life-safety inspections of sprinkled residential structures.
• City of Southlake building inspections: permits and inspections for repair work.
• Your homeowners association: the city's permit guidance says to contact your HOA for covenant requirements.
• PRC: board-up, documenting the building, soot cleanup, drying, and the rebuild scope and work.

Rebuilding what was in the house

We do not swap builder-grade finishes for what was already there. If the house had Level 5 walls or custom millwork, the rebuild matches it. Read why finish level matters after fire or water, and why fire scopes change after demolition. Southlake's permit guidance lists remodels of walls, electrical, plumbing and window replacement, roof replacement, furnace or coil replacement and demolition of a building among the work that needs a permit, and lists painting, wallpapering, carpeting, cabinets and trim work as not needing one. The city's building inspections office confirms what a specific repair needs. Start with our reconstruction page.