Renovating a fire damaged house

[Of The Vultures]

So... has anyone renovated a fire damaged house before? We got ourselves our first torched project, any tips?

The rough sequence I imagine will be:
Gut the walls
Glazier to fix all broken windows
Electrician/plumber to rewire/replumb any damage
Fix holes in floor
Plasterer
Painting

And a hell of a lot of washing/cleaning in between it all

Kitchen/bathroom luckily are just smoke damaged, no need to replace, just wash. What's the best thing to clean smoke damaged surfaces with?

Cheers

PS I should add externally the house is undamaged, including roof

 

[Tulamalula]

wow, a real fire sale! You got before pics?

 

[travelbug]

YEP!! Look at the bottom one first.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LovetoReno

I'm off to the city now. If you have any questions just ask.

 

[Tulamalula]

You've got a job on your hands! House has gone bones though.

 

[TMNT]

this guy is doing one,

thats the last fire damaged home thread on ss that I can recall

http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92082

 

[westminster]

Oooh a crispy one!

Pretty pretty pretty please can you do a thread on it and show it as it happens?

 

[Of The Vultures]

Travelbug the videos are a great idea, I might do that too. Top job on that house, what a difference. Did you use regular cleaning stuff like sugar soap to clean the smoke damaged surfaces?

Myf lol, yes it's crispy - may as well make this thread into a progress thread. It hasn't settled yet but I'll see if I can get in there this week, I'll take photos and post them up.

 

[Of The Vultures]

Actually I have a couple of pics, forgot I took them on my phone when we first looked at it:

 

[Of The Vultures]

and the kitchen and lounge

 

[travelbug]

Yes I used a lot of sugar soap. Have 2 buckets. Rinse the sponges in one then use the second one otherwise it gets filthy fast.
I started cleaning the second bedroom but it was taking a lot of time (the fire was right outside it and got some heat on the walls. In the end I decided to strip it. Otherwise I would have wasted another day and a half.
So if it's bad it's quicker and not too expensive to just get new gyprock.

We resheeted the hall, lounge and 2 bedrooms.

When painting the smoke damaged stuff make sure you paint with Zinzer first otherwise the smoke stains will bleed through.

You're keeping the kitchen?? It looks pretty second hand. It's pretty cheap to replace a kitchen.

Yes stripout everything first.

 

[Of The Vultures]

Thanks for the tips Travelbug. Never used Zinzer before, is that like shellack undercoat? We used that to undercoat wood frames so the wood tannins wouldn't come through the paint.

The house will be a rental and it's in a working class area, so if the kitchen comes up good when washed I'm inclined to leave it. If I were selling I'd definitely put in a new kitchen. Final decision on this will come once we start the work.

 

[NBS]

Hi,

Your sequence is good. Now is a good time to list what you need IE light fittings, door locks, tap ware etc etc for the whole place and look for any specials and buy as they come up. Just bare in mind the cheapest sometimes is not the best option.

Get a depreciation schedule done now and keep good records, receipts and monitor the budget as you go so you stay on track. Its too easy to go over budget.

Have you any photos?

This is one I did in 2010;

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62229

Have fun with your project.

Brian

 

[Perth73]

We've just finished renovating a place with terrible staining from cigarette smoke and nicotine. Not quite as severe as fire damage I know but we had success with using tricleanium instead of sugar soap and Zinnser BIN as the undercoat (shellac based). It blocked the staining and odour really well.

 

[impala67]

Hi Of The Vultures, Were you able to post some itemised sums also for the work done? Or, at least a general figure - as it would be interesting to know what these sort of projects cost. Thanks

 

[travelbug]

I'd rather do a burnout than a nicotine house.

It's disgusting. I sprayed the ceiling with sugar soap in water using a garden sprayer (twice)and scrubbed it with a broom.. It dripped down in my hair. YUK!!
The ceilings were originally white.

Teamed with a whole house of wallpaper this was a mammoth task.

 

[Of The Vultures]

Update.
I've been at work so I have yet to see the house since it settled nearly two weeks ago, but my husband's been busy gutting it.

We are replacing all the ceilings (except bathroom), and walls in hallway and bedrooms. Still getting quotes, the tradies here obviously don't need the work much

Replaced all the broken windows, lounge + bedrooms, 5 in total - $750
Electrician will cost us nearly $5000
Airconditioner unit is melted so getting replaced at $1090 (motor is ok)

I'll post more costs and pics when I get home

 

[impala67]

...Electrician will cost us nearly $5000

$5K to rewire whole house, or just fix all wiring problems?

 

[Of The Vultures]

$5K to rewire whole house, or just fix all wiring problems?

Fix all damaged wiring plus new power points everywhere, lights, RCD's, smoke alarms.

 

[janglesey]

Thanks for sharing your project Of the Vultures. And wow, Travelbug, you really have done some challenging renovations! Well done.

 

[A Jeremy]

A niche can be a great thing to have.

Maybe you have found yours.