Why We Restore Your Belongings

7/6/2020 (Permalink)

Our textile cleaning facility in Lenoir, NC can clean most damaged soft goods. We take every precaution possible to save your damaged belongings!

We recently had customers whose entire home was damaged by an electrical fire. In fact, our repair team had to completely rebuild most of their house. For the homeowners, the recovery process was long and stressful.

But for the wife, it was particularly difficult because her cherished cabinet — passed down from her grandmother — had been lost in the fire. Or so she thought.

Our team had actually managed to locate a specialist who was able to completely restore the cabinet. The moment we finally revealed the restored item was one that many of our employees still remember.

At SERVPRO of Alexander, Caldwell, Burke & Catawba Counties in Lenoir, NC, we put an emphasis on restoring your belongings — not replacing. We believe this approach is often cheaper and helps you keep the items you hold valuable.

Restore vs Replace

You can’t replace sentimental value. That’s one of the reasons our team takes every measure we can to try and restore your belongings. If you replace an item, you may get a similar — or sometimes better — version of the one you had before, but that’s often not enough for customers.

For example, if the aforementioned customer had purchased an exact replica of her grandmother’s cabinet, it wouldn’t be the same one that her grandmother had given her. It would be an identical copy, but the customer would know it wasn’t the same. And because it was an antique, it may have been hard to find a comparable replacement.

Even if sentimental value isn’t a concern, restoring an item can often be cheaper. If the insurance company had paid for an identical cabinet, they might have had to pay $3,000, for example. But if it only cost us $1,000 to have it restored, then the insurance company would have saved $2,000.

This matters because your policy will have a coverage cap, so once your insurance company pays a certain amount, you'll have to pay for the rest out of pocket. The cheaper it is to have things replaced/restored, the more items you can potentially save.

The Restoration Process

Although we had to hire a specialist to restore the cabinet, we can actually restore most items ourselves. Our team is IICRC-certified, plus we have a variety of specialty equipment and products we can use to restore your valuables.

Surface Cleaning

If your belongings only have surface-level damage, we have a few different options for cleaning them. In some cases, we wipe items with rags and dry sponges. If the damage is heavier, we will use proprietary cleaning products to help remove residue.

Ultrasonic Cleaning

Some items require more substantial cleaning that can’t be done by hand. In these cases, we may have to use our ultrasonic cleaning equipment. During this process, qualified items are placed in water or a specific solvent and agitated by sonic waves, which helps remove contaminants from the items. This works especially well for jewelry, electronics, and other sensitive objects.

Textiles Cleaning

SERVPRO of Alexander, Caldwell, Burke and Catawba Counties is one of the only restoration companies in the region with a dedicated textile cleaning facility. At our facility, we are able to clean most damaged textiles, including clothing, linens, and even stuffed animals. We even have an Esporta, which is a machine capable of cleaning more than 90% of soiled soft items!

Odor Removal

Depending on the incident, your belongings may have a distinct odor. We have proprietary products and equipment that are capable of removing any odor. If your belongings have an offensive smell, we can take care of that through our ozone chamber, CLO2 treatments, or other options.

Calling the Restoration Experts

At SERVPRO of Alexander, Caldwell, Burke and Catawba Counties, we care about you and your valuables. Although some items are beyond saving, we exhaust every option available. If your Lenoir home's been in a disaster, don’t assume your belongings are lost forever. Call us at (828) 396-1070, and see what we can do to have them restored!