smoke damage

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

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In a message dated 7/23/01 9:55:21 AM Central Daylight Time, 
purdy@oak.cats.ohiou.edu writes:


> Could some of you elaborate on your
> guidelines in making an insurance assessment of a smoke damaged piano.  I
> am worried about long term damage, odor removal, corrosive effects of ozone
> treatment, glue joints after the steam present, and anything else I need to
> consider.  At what point do I total the piano?  This is a Baldwin that is
> only several years old.  Some posts in the archives say smoke, steam, and
> ozone have minimal effects and some stress long term problems will ruin the
> piano.  Are there any clear guidelines to use?
> 
> 

Chris

I presume you mean a Baldwin grand. I don't know if what I have been 
promoting is considered anything official, but here is what I recommend when 
I inspect a smoke damaged grand piano. It is my contention that smoke and 
especially soot, is a corrosive agent that penetrates everything in the 
piano. This stuff gets into the felts, under the strings on bridges around 
tuning pins and into the hammers and dampers. There is no way to remove the 
smoke smell and the soot from under strings and out of felts. Therefore, 
these parts have to be replaced. 

The insurance company wants to know two things, the value of the piano before 
the fire and how much is it going to cost to repair it. If the repairs are 
more than the value, the insurance company will total the instrument, and 
give the customer a check for the value of the piano. If the repairs are 
less, and the customer wants to have the work done, then the insurance 
company will have the work done. 

If the piano is in the room where the temperature reached about 500 degrees 
or more, there is also a good chance the glue joints will be compromised. 
This should also be taken into consideration when looking at the piano. 

One problem, as I see it, is that some of problems associated with damage 
from a fire is that some of the problems don't show up until 5 or even 10 
years later. In most cases, the claim is settled, by then, and there is no 
way the owner can get the insurance to pay for damage then. 

In any case, you said this is a newer instrument. The customer expected the 
piano to last 75 - 100 years. You need to determine if the fire reduce the 
life expectancy of the piano? The other question that needs to be answered 
is, did the fire reduce the aesthetic value of the piano? Does it look the 
same, not just that case, but also the strings, felts, etc.?

I hope this helps.

Wim   


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