Devastating Fire Leads to Massive Restoration Undertaking at 100,000 ft² Carpet Factory
A job that is at least 20 times larger than a large residential loss requires an exponentially larger amount of everything
Fire losses are some of the most time consuming, labor intensive and resource utilizing jobs that we run into in the restoration industry. They put nearly every aspect of our industry to work, simultaneously. We are often required to dry the structure, clean and pack contents, deodorize, mitigate smoke and soot, rebuild, paint, secure and protect the building. The list goes on. Needless to say, it requires a substantial amount of labor and resources to effectively restore any fire loss. The average residential loss typically runs anywhere from 1,000-10,000 square feet. Recall all that is required to process a job within that range. Now, imagine what it would take to do all of the above on a 100,000 square foot industrial facility. A job that is at least 20 times larger than a large residential loss requires an exponentially larger amount of everything. Here’s a look at the complexity of one such project.
On February 25, 2013, a fire erupted in a carpet factory in North Atlanta. The fire took almost all of the local fire department’s resources and nearly 24 hours to fully extinguish. It is estimated that 25% of the facility was damaged beyond repair and the remainder of the building sustained heavy smoke damage. In a typical fire, contents that must be protected, cleaned, tested and returned to pre-loss condition usually cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. A single machine in this facility had an estimated cost of more than $4 million to replace and can take up to two years to build. Factor in that there were other machines ranging in cost from the hundreds of thousands each, to $1 million-plus, and the scope of work continues its expansion. Needless to say, the highest level of detail is required on a project of this magnitude.