Air Conditioner Crisis

9/23/2022 (Permalink)

This is the window air conditioning unit that had an electrical issue and cause the start of the fire in an upstairs bedroom.

This homeowner is no newbie when it comes to hot and humid Midwest summers, so he decided to install an air conditioning window unit to help cool the upstairs part of his home. While it did help there was an electrical issue that malfunctioned and cause the home to catch fire. Affecting multiple parts of the home. There had also been water damage to the home from the water department putting the fire out. 

During our project manager's initial assessment with the field adjuster, they determined that due to the age of the home it would be in everyone's best interest to get an asbestos test since there was some demo to be done. Once the test results came back it had been confirmed that there was asbestos present in the home. The plan of action from there was to perform the demo needed without disturbing the asbestos. 

Due to the electrical being compromised by the fire temporary power had to be established in order to place the appropriate drying equipment and in order to provide air conditioning to our crew while working in high temperatures. 

Our crew began removing all water-holding materials and debris laying on the floor such as carpet, pad, and any drywall that had fallen onto the floor. Once approval was given, we were allowed to demo the plaster walls affected by smoke/ soot damage. Once all demo was performed, we set air movers and dehumidifiers to properly dry the structure before the reconstruction team could begin work on the home.