[CAUT] Fire Damage Restoration

[William Monroe]

Hi Dan,

A smoke damage restoration is a big job.  It can be done, and you should
take care to do it well, and with appropriate caveats.  As Ed mentioned,
some trouble may appear on down the road with corrosion, etc., that you can
not predict.  Can not, no way, no how.  So there are many levels to which
you can take this kind of work, the two (reasonable) extremes in my opinion:

Option 1:  Full restoration - this is really the only way to be able to make
any real guarantees about the end product.  Basically tear the piano down,
keeping the block, board and bridges, clean in that condition, and then
restring, new dampers, etc.  One could make the argument that even glue
joints may be suspect, and one should therefore not guarantee those parts
against failure.  Probably appropriate, and in this case probably reasonable
to suggest proceeding with a restoration, saying this doesn't appear to be a
problem, but never a guarantee.

Option 2:  Clean as is, disassemble only to the point of removal of all case
parts, action removed for cleaning, etc., but no real replacement of parts,
just cleaning thoroughly.  There are a number of products made by the
Unsmoke company.  I get them from a regional supplier as I don't have a
local source, but you may.  I order them from JonDon.  see:

http://www.jondon.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=82_2478&osCsid=9c5d2026d2fff676b128e0d8726e7dde
also:
http://www.jondon.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=82_2480&osCsid=1040608be3c3d65efe5fddb05be30a54

There are different products for different odor sources (electrical fire,
refrigerator with meat smells, etc. - choose accordingly).  My short list
includes the following:

-Dry Cleaning Sponges - Use first to wipe down all casework, finished or
unfinished parts - removes soot and other residue
-Degrease-All - Use second, everywhere.  Mix and use to wipe all unfinished"
things (underside); it can be mixed with:
      -9D9: Odor control - Wood and Synthetic Fires
      -Double O:  Odor control - Organics, Protein Odors
-SmokeSolv Wood Creme Restorer - Use on all finished surfaces.
-C.O.C crystals: Ambient passive odor removal
-Space Spray: Very strong, kind of a last resort odor eliminator

That should get you started.  It is many, many hours of scrubbing, rubbing,
etc.  As I mentioned, there are many places along the path that one could
call "good enough," and it's up to you and the clients to decide where that
is, knowing the advantages and pitfalls of any suggested approach.  With
this kind of job, I tend to believe more towards Option one is preferable.
Nothing is more displeasing than paying a lot of money for smoke restoration
and ending up with a piano that still smells faintly of smoke.

My opinion,
William R. Monroe



On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 6:41 PM, Daniel Rembold <d_rembold at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> I have been asked to clean and deodorize a small Nordiska grand with
> PianoDisc, which was exposed to smoke from a house fire.  There is no
> evidence of excessive heat, and the PianoDisk system plays fine.
>
> In my initial inspection I could find smoke residue only in a fine film at
> the back of the soundboard/plate, and on the keytops.  Fortunately the lid
> was down, but the fallboard was up at the time of the fire.
>
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Dan Rembold, former RPT
> Auburn University Staff Technician
>
>
>
>
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