Mold and mildew are also the kinds of problems that may not be visible right away.  If the people handling your flooded basement cleanup don’t do a professional job, then six months or a year down the road you may realize you have a more serious problem.  You want to make sure the company you hire, if you decide the job is too big to handle your self is both experience and reliable.  If your not sure, it never hurts to ask for references, and be sure to check them out.  If you live in an area that is frequented by flooding, then chances are pretty good that someone you know has run into the same problem, and can recommend a reliable and professional company to do the job.

The restoration process was not handled all that well, and technologies back then for rebuilding and restoring a burned home weren’t quite as advanced as they are today.  Instead of replacing much of the structure, they left a lot of it in place, and applied a chemical sealant over large sections.  For years later, the house never seemed to be totally free of the smell of burned wood.  I think they would have rather the insurance company just knocked the entire place down and started from scratch.  It would have been more expensive, and insurance really didn’t want to spend that much money.

To this day, my wife is still paranoid about leaving certain appliances on in the house.  Hair curlers, and clothes drying machines in particular.  One lesson her family learned from the experience was to have adequate insurance for fire damage restoration when shopping for insurance.  Make sure you read the fine print here, and make sure you have some say in how any possible restorations of your home will be handled.  As well, they learned how a fire damaged home can also include substantial smoke, heat and water damage.  The long term effects have to be considered here.  You don’t want just a band-aid to be applied to your home.  It is likely your single largest investment.  Sections of the home that have been damaged should really be replaced, and not salvaged or repaired.  While it may be hard to resist the temptation, don’t try to do any repairs until your insurance company has had a good look first.  Or, at the very least, talk to your insurance company to get permission first.