Smoke, heat, and water after a fire or flood can severely damage your household or business belongings.  Before ultrasonic-cleaning technology arrived on the scene, victims of natural disasters like these would be forced to throw out much of what they owned.

As you might imagine, purchasing new items got extremely expensive, and wrestling with insurance payouts made it doubly difficult. It was time-consuming enough to simply replace those items one could go out and buy, like appliances, everyday dishes, computers, electronics, clothing, and other common household items.

However, the worst part of disaster restoration was handling those irreplaceable items like family heirlooms or other one-of-a-kind keepsakes. Those items can never be replaced.

Restoration with Ultrasonic Cleaning Tackles Fire or Flood Damage

After a fire, your household belongings may be oxidized, bent out of shape from heat, covered with soot, and waterlogged from attempts to put the fire out. In the past, many of these items would be beyond repair.

Today, restoration companies that specialize in fire damage can now remove the soot and smell from most of those items and return them to their original condition, thanks to ultrasonic cleaning systems and technology. Those items that are too large or require special cleaning—like large appliances and computers—can be cleaned as well. Companies that use ultrasonic cleaning can also salvage your precious family heirlooms.

The same is true if your home or business is subjected to water damage from a flood. After the waters subside, your property might be covered in mud and smell like dead fish or decaying water plants. If they are left alone without further treatment, your items may have bacteria and mold start to grow on them, making them a health risk.

Once a restoration company comes in and begins ultrasonic cleaning, however, most of those items can be saved, and they will not be a health risk in the present time or in the future. Most items can be restored to pre-flood condition, with all the dirt and smell cleaned away.

Thanks to ultrasonic cleaning, many irreplaceable items can be completely salvaged, and even those that are more easily replaceable can be cleaned at a fraction of the cost of buying them new.

The end result? Ultrasonic cleaning not only saves money for both consumers and insurance companies, but also can restore precious belongings, and you can’t put a price on that.

Restoration with Ultrasonic Cleaning: Cost-Effective and Powerful

Whether you’re an end consumer or representing an insurance agency, you’ve got to love the lower cost associated with ultrasonic-cleaning restoration. Restoration companies charge only a fraction of what it would cost if you had to buy all of those items again, and they do it using safe, gentle, environmentally responsible ultrasonic-cleaning systems that won’t damage even the most delicate and fragile of your items.

On-site, mobile units can be used to clean and return your smaller items to you right away, reducing cost and turnaround time. For larger items, restoration companies usually offer centralized facilities equipped to handle almost any size and weight household item while still doing a thorough cleaning job.

What can be cleaned and restored? You may be surprised to learn that almost anything can be cleaned with ultrasonic-cleaning methods. Small appliances, radios, and other electronics, computers, dishes, kitchenware,clothes, toys, and even mini-blinds can be cleaned and returned using ultrasonic-cleaning technology.

Being the victim of a fire or flood is painful enough for you and your family without the added misery, cost and time spent shopping for a whole household’s worth of belongings. Not to mention the heartache involved with having to throw away treasured family heirlooms because they’re covered in soot and are too delicate to scrub clean.

Fire damage and water damage can now be more effectively removed with ultrasonic-cleaning techniques. Thanks to this transformative technology, a tragedy, if it strikes, can be a lot less stressful to your family.

Want to know more about how contents restoration through ultrasonic cleaning can save both time and money after fire and flood damage?  Contact one of our ultrasonic cleaning consultants today at Omegasonics or give our experts a call at (888) 420-4445.

How does Ultrasonic Cleaning Work?

Ultrasonic cleaners work in a very similar way to a loudspeaker, except the ultrasonic cleaner waves travel at a much higher frequency and through water instead of air. A high-frequency electronic generator that creates ultrasonic waves is connected to a diaphragm, a flat or cone-shaped structure similar to the visible cone-shaped portion of a loudspeaker.

The generator vibrates the diaphragm at a specific high frequency, usually between 25 and 170 kHz, inside a specially-designed water tank. The ultrasonic cleaner waves created cause the water molecules to vibrate rapidly, and the liquid is torn apart, creating cavitation bubbles.

These bubbles are where ultrasonic cleaning technology is born. As they collapse, they release energy against the surfaces with which they are connecting, dislodging grime at the microscopic level. Coupled with the power of detergents, ultrasonic waves make a gentle yet effective cleaner that can reach down into blind holes and crevices of any object.

This makes them ideal for contents restoration. Ultrasonic cleaning technology doesn’t require toxic chemicals or hands-on work, and Omegasonics units use only water-based solutions.

So, How do I Stand out From the Contents Restoration Competition

In a word: efficiency. The Omegasonics Restoration PRO® can help turn your disaster restoration business into a well-oiled machine.

By using our ultrasonic cleaning technology, you can introduce the benefits of an assembly-line contents cleaning process to any disaster restoration job, doing away with most of the tedious hand cleaning that you used to do. In fact, the Restoration Pro® system provides the same level of microscopic cleaning found in the medical and semiconductor industry. Your clients are getting the same finished product as big companies like Intel.

The truly portable Restoration PRO® system helps you decrease cashed-out items. It effectively cleans even difficult pieces like china, delicate figurines, ceramics, mini-blinds, silver, brass, chandeliers, plastics and stuffed animals more effectively than contents cleaning by hand. It easily removes smoke residues, mold, water damage, heat scale, and rust.

So, not only will you be more efficient than your competition, but you can also expect to see a return on your investment in five to six months.

What Kind of Soap Should I Use for my Contents Restoration System?

Omegasonics has a wide range of detergents available that have been specifically engineered to clean various materials and types of grime or contamination. These detergents are generally concentrated and should be mixed with water. As always, make sure to follow the manufacturer’s directions. Omegasonics’ detergents are also far “greener” than industrial solvents, making them easier and safer to dispose of and work around.

You can also drain and reuse detergent, depending on how much usage it undergoes.

If you supply information on how many “packouts” you do in a month, the Omegasonics team of experts will be able to recommend the optimal size tank for your needs.

How Ultrasonic Cleaning Benefits Restoration Businesses

If you’re already in the restoration business and just want to try out ultrasonic cleaning for its efficiency and results, you don’t have to buy the complete Restoration Pro system. You can start with just the ultrasonic cleaning unit. Our team at Omegasonics will then help you build up your contents division so you can add more equipment as you feel necessary.

Once you decide you want to purchase the full Restoration Pro System, you’ll need to figure out how it will fit in your facilities. The experts at Omegasonics stand ready to help you with a custom layout. All you have to do is send us your facility layout, and we will customize it for maximum efficiency.

Contents Restoration Training

Training is a very big part of being successful with your contents division. An Omegasonics’ trainer will come to your facility and spend up to three days with you and your team, going over packout procedures, cost estimating and conducting hands-on training with your new equipment. Training costs all depend on how long you would like for the trainer to stay and train on site.

Once the initial training is concluded, Omegasonics offers great customer support. We have our own working contents division, and we completely understand that you can’t learn everything in a couple of days. In fact, you can always call us and ask questions. If we don’t know the answer, we will research it for you, so you get the correct answer to your application.

Want to know more about how Omegasonics can revolutionize your contents restoration business? Contact one of our ultrasonic cleaning consultants today at Omegasonics or give our experts a call at (888) 420-4445.

After a flood or fire, your home or business may be damaged and need repair, but what about your personal or business-related items?

How do you start with the process of cleaning and restoring all of them when the clock is ticking and it’s hard to know where to start?

Many people turn to a pack-out company for assistance. A good pack-out service will come to your home, do a walkthrough and document your damaged items, pack and transport them to their facility, clean and restore them, then return them to your home when you’re ready to receive them back.

What To Expect with an Inspection

The first step in a pack-out is the walkthrough inspection. Restoration professionals will conduct the walkthrough on site, generally letting you know right away whether or not an item can be restored. Fortunately, with today’s restoration technology, most items can be brought to pre-loss condition. All contents will be inspected and any pre-existing damage will be documented before being sent out to be restored.

This documentation helps to estimate the losses and facilitates the filing of your insurance claim. If an item does not require packing out, it will be secured and protected while structural repairs are made to the property. However, depending on the damage to the property, even non-damaged items may be packed out to avoid further damage while major structural repairs are being done.

Keep in mind that some affected items may be cleaned in place to prevent acidic residues from causing any further damage. Depending on the condition of the structure around them, they may be moved once they’re cleaned. Smaller items, such as kitchen knives, spoons, pots and pans, dishes, storage containers, may be individually wrapped in paper or bubble wrap, boxed, labeled and then inventoried by the pack-out company.

Larger items such as upholstered and wooden furniture will be carefully inspected, with all damage documented before they’re wrapped and shipped. At the end of the inspection, you should receive a complete inventory and assessment with any pre-existing damage noted.

Transportation and Restoration

It is generally easier, more secure, and cost-efficient to take most movable contents to a secure location for restoration work. When the transportation begins, items will be loaded and secured in a covered box truck using the appropriate packing materials and pads.

The restoration process is constantly monitored and you will be contacted regarding the status of your items before they are ready to be sent back to your home or business. After content cleaning and restoration, items are returned to your home or business using the same inventory procedures and documentation employed in the pack-out process. Your items are loaded, transported, delivered with care, and checked with the original inventory documents.

Choosing the Best Pack-Out Company

Having a team of pack-out professionals handle your precious items is essential to a smooth process from start to finish. Make sure you hire experts who understand how to properly remove, clean store and replace your items in their original condition. 1-800-Packouts is your premier destination for quality and experienced pack-out service.

Ultrasonic Cleaning and Pack-Outs

If you are a contents restoration specialist, consider using ultrasonic cleaners to restore items entrusted to you to their former condition or better. Ultrasonic cleaners work more efficiently and thoroughly over traditional cleaning methods. Visit Omegasonics today to see our wide range of ultrasonic cleaners as well as cleaning solutions.

Want to know more about restoration work with ultrasonic cleaners? Contact our experts at Omegasonics and find out more at 888-989-5560 or email us at omegasonics@omegasonics.com

Personal Safety

First of all, don’t forget personal safety when you’re entering your home to begin assessment and cleanup. Before you enter your home the first time after a flood, check for structural damage to avoid being trapped or injured by a collapse. Have appropriate professionals assist you with turning off the electricity and gas to your home until the wires and pipes can be checked and can be safely restored. As you walk through the house, keep an eye out for dangerous debris underfoot, such as broken glass or nails.

Document Everything

When you inspect your home as the owner, make sure you document the state of everything as well as you can. Take pictures of any damage you see as well as the condition of furniture and any personal items you find. This kind of documentation will be invaluable as you deal with the insurance company. They will want to do their own documentation, but anything you can do will be helpful in the case of a dispute. Contact your insurance company as rapidly as possible and file a claim, giving as much detail as you can, regarding your losses.

Cleanup: Tackle Mold First

This is the priority. Mold often forms within 48 hours after a flood, affecting drywall and wooden support joists in homes. Generally, wet and/or moldy drywall must be cut out and thrown away and any wood beams can be cleaned with bleach. Be sure to wear protective gear such as gloves and a face mask when cleaning mold. Mold can also affect your personal items. Some of these can be easily cleaned with soap and warm water, but others may need deeper cleaning and may be too delicate for traditional cleaning methods. See below for suggestions in these cases.

Cleanup Tips

Don’t forget to wash your hands often–floodwaters often contain high levels of harmful bacteria. Wear protective gear such as waterproof boots, gloves and a face mask to limit your exposure to potential pathogens or other contaminants. Put any personal items you can’t deal with immediately in open boxes or bags. Any books, loose papers or textiles should be put in a freezer to await drying out if you can’t deal with them within 48 hours.

Call in the Pros: Ultrasonic Cleaning to the Rescue

Remember those tough jobs on delicate or time-consuming Items? When traditional cleaning fails, ultrasonic cleaning may be the answer. Ultrasonic cleaning involves generating ultrasonic sound waves that travel through a liquid bath. When an object is placed in this bath, the ultrasonic waves produce millions of tiny cavitation bubbles against every surface of the object to be cleaned. These bubbles release energy when they collapse, dislodging dirt, grime and mold from the object’s surface. Often, ultrasonic cleaning can achieve results impossible for traditional cleaning methods.

Want to know more about how you can clean moldy or flood-damaged items? Contact the experts at Omegasonics and find out more at 888-989-5560, or email us at omegasonics@omegasonics.com

Some Thoughts on Selecting a Contents Restoration Firm:

Secure the services of a licensed and reputable restoration company. You don’t want to hire a cleaning service. They’re great for small jobs, but they lack the skills and knowledge to handle a larger disaster. Don’t hire a family member who happens to be handy, or even the original contractor who built your business or home. Again, they may not have the expertise of a firm that works with disaster recovery on a regular basis.

Look for a business with a strong set of certifications

There are many possible certifications. The Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification is one of the most respected and well-known organizations, offering certification courses for practitioners who do everything from drying water damage to building cabinets and installing flooring for restorative purposes. Specifically, look for a company that has attended an accredited contents restoration certification course.

Make sure the firm you choose is insurance-savvy

The restoration company you choose needs to know how to effectively deal with insurance companies–making claims and filing paperwork correctly, fighting for you and so on. Your contractor needs to adhere to the strict insurance industry requirements and use estimating software accepted by your insurance company–if the estimate format doesn’t meet insurance standards, it may be rejected.

Your restoration firm needs to respond immediately

You can’t sit around waiting for a call-back when you have a disaster situation and need help immediately. Certain types of fire and water damage can be mitigated or prevented by an immediate response within the first 24 hours after occurrence. Make sure you choose a restoration business with administrative staff and field technicians available 24/7. Ask them about their company’s average response time from first call to arrival on the scene.

Make sure the contents restoration firm uses the proper equipment

Every type of disaster requires its own specific equipment, and necessitates extensive and expert knowledge on the part of the recovery firm. For example, the IICRC (Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification) categorizes water damage restoration sites according to several categories, each needing specific levels of protective gear and cleanup equipment.

Equipment for disaster recovery can range from air movers (industrial strength fans and blowers) to infrared moisture meters for water damage to ultrasonic cleaners for cleaning smoke and soot-damaged household items after a fire.

Like much of the high-tech modern equipment now used by reputable restoration firms, ultrasonic cleaners can clean and restore items which would have been unsalvageable in years past. They work by immersing items in a specific liquid solution (one designed to clean soot from surfaces, for example) and then bathing them in ultrasonic waves, which create cavitation bubbles against the surface, thoroughly and deeply cleaning beyond what ordinary applications can accomplish.

Interested in knowing more about ultrasonic cleaners? Call Omegasonics at 888-989-5560 or email us at omegasonics@omegasonics.com

These items, when recovered, are often greatly soiled, whether with ash, grime, dirt, grease, muck or any other sort of contaminant. Getting them clean on your own can consume many hours of backbreaking work and even then they might not look like you remember them. There is, however, a means by which you can get your important personal items looking like new, and that’s ultrasonic cleaning.

Contents Restoration and Ultrasonic Cleaning

If you run a business dealing with disaster recovery, contents restoration and ultrasonic cleaning go hand in hand. Ultrasonic cleaners can remove even the toughest debris and caked-on contaminants, from carbon deposits to shellac to heat and ash scaling to grease and oil to mold and rust, and more. The technology has been around for decades and gets better every day.

It is one of the most efficient and thorough methods of cleaning there is — able to get into the tiniest cracks and crevices, without the need to disassemble fragile items. It can clean in places that a brush can’t go and won’t harm the underlying material in any way. It’s safe to use on plastics, ceramics, zinc, aluminum, iron, steel, rubber and just about any other material. Finally, it’s totally environmentally-friendly, using biodegradable detergents and water, nothing more.

The Benefits to a Business

How much time and effort do your employees spend hand-cleaning items that come in from disaster situations? Do you often wish you could focus their efforts elsewhere? With ultrasonic cleaning, you can eliminate on average 70% of all hand-cleaning. This will dramatically improve the productivity and efficiency of your process. You’ll return items looking better than before, and will operate faster, which will increase your profits and revenue.

Using ultrasonic cleaning technology will make you stand out from the competition, allowing you to shift from painstaking, meticulous work in cleaning to an efficient assembly-line process which will produce even better results — up to 25 content boxes per hour or more.

Isn’t It Expensive?

As with any new technology, there is an up-front cost to purchase, install, and train on the equipment before you’ll start seeing a return on investment. However, the equipment should, depending on the size of your business, start to pay for itself within six months, and then your profits will increase! Ultrasonic cleaning technology isn’t an expense: it’s an investment.

Best of all, your customers will look at you as a hero. You’ll be able to clean difficult items that you might have needed to cash out before, from antique china to delicate figures and ceramics, to chandeliers and even stuffed animals.

If you’d like more information on how contents restoration and ultrasonic cleaning go hand-in-hand, read about our Restoration PRO® System, and get in touch with us for more information or help ordering today!

Packouts in General

The term pack out is often used to refer to any situation where the personal property contents of a home or office need to be removed so that repairs or construction can be done. Contents are defined as any items that are not permanently secured to the structure. Once the repairs are finished, the contents are then returned to the site and replaced.

While it seems like a packout should be a straightforward process, choosing the wrong company to handle your pack out can have dire consequences, both for the owners of the contents being packed and the insurance adjustors who must deal with the consequences of a failed pack out.

Recovering from a Flood

Moving and storing items after a flood is a common packout project, and provides the perfect example of how easy it is for a packout to fail. A packout amateur may assume that the only thing that needs to be done is to temporarily store content from the flooded building in an onsite pod or other storage container.

Unfortunately, taking damp flood items and placing them in a sealed and warm container will quickly encourage the growth of mold, and when molding is allowed to occur it can cause extensive damage to your content. A more experienced packout company will make sure that all items are removed to a safe area where they can be dried, stored and then returned once the structural repairs or cleaning is completed.

A Wine Collection

Another example of why experience matters when it comes to a packout is properly handling a wine collection. A wine collection can be a major investment, and, in order to retain its value, wine must be properly stored. This means taking into account not only the right environmental conditions for each type of wine, but also the right conditions for their bottles. Often, the removal or damage of a bottle label can mean reducing the value of a bottle of fine wine by 50% or more.

Packout companies that understand the delicate nature of storing wine will make sure to discuss the conditions in which the wine must be kept with the owners before any moving takes place. They will also take care not to damage the wine during the removal.

A Good Packout Partner

Having a team of people who know what they are doing can help a pack out go smoothly. That is why it is important to contact experts who know removal, storage and replacement. 1-800-Packouts is the place to go to find quality packout providers that know how to handle the process from start to finish.

Don’t Forget the Ultrasonic Cleaners

If you are a content restoration specialist, be sure to make use of ultrasonic cleaners to get your items restored to their former glory. Visit Omegasonics today to see our wide range of ultrasonic cleaners as well as cleaning solutions.

The Traditional Way of Restoration

Traditionally companies that did this type of work did all the cleaning by hand. This meant having several workers using rags, chemicals, brushes and Q-tips in order to remove as much dirt, dust, mold and smoke damage as they could from recovered items.

This process was very time consuming and often involved harsh cleaners and other chemicals. It was very limited in what it could recover in some cases. Even items that were restored might still have a mold or smoky smell to them.

Enter Ultrasonic Cleaning

The limitations of this process is why Omegasonics provides a better way for these companies to get their jobs done. Ultrasonic cleaners are well suited for contents cleaning. In order to restore items that have been damaged in a disaster, cleaning time and effort must be spent getting all contamination removed.

Smoke odors, mold, water damage and soot can find their ways into the smallest corners and openings in objects. While traditional cleaners are limited in what they can do based on the size of the brushes and where they will fit, ultrasonic cleaners can get anywhere and clean any part of an object no matter how small.

Ultrasonic Cleaning is a Better Way

Chemicals and brushes are limited in the amount of cleaning power they have. Detergents are there to dissolve the bonds between the dirt and the surface it is attached to, while brushes are there to remove the dirt once it has been loosened up. A brush can only carry so much energy; this means repeated passes to get things clean.

Ultrasonic cleaners use cavitation action to get items clean. Cavitation works by using very tiny, high-energy bubbles that crash into the surface of the object and blast dirt and contaminates away. Not only does this get items clean and looking as good as new, it also helps remove the odors that can be associated with fire and mold.

Ultrasonic cleaners also save time. What might take a team of workers an entire day to get through can be done in mere hours using an ultrasonic bath. This speeds up the time it takes to return these items to victims and helps them get back on their feet quicker.

If you run a disaster recovery service, come look at what Omegasonics has to offer.

Cleaning tasks that used to take hours can be done in a matter of minutes with an ultrasonic cleaning system; the entire process is also safer, since we’re not exposed to dangerous solvents while the parts are being cleaned.

There’s no need to stand over the top of a parts washer directing the flow into each crack and crevice either; we are free to do other productive tasks while the parts are being cleaned, and come back to pick them up when they’re ready to go. Ultrasonic cleaning systems are an auto mechanic’s best friend. Omegasonics describes some of the parts that ultrasonic cleaners are best suited for.

It makes sense to use ultrasonic cleaning systems to speed up the work on almost any component we touch on a car, motorcycle, or truck, but here are some of the ones that we think can have the biggest impact on not only the time of the repair or rebuild, but the quality of the final job as well:

Carburetors – This is an obvious first choice. The small needle valves, jets, orifices, and ports that make up a carburetor are painstaking to clean of fuel varnish and sludge. Even worse, it’s common to damage one of these delicate surfaces when cleaning by hand, which slows the job down even more and can affect the performance of the vehicle if it isn’t repaired properly.

Cylinder Heads – Cleaning a cylinder head of fuel varnish, oil sludge, and carbon deposits is tedious, particularly around the intake and exhaust ports. Ultrasonic cleaning can turn this long process into a 30-40 minute event, and make dye-penetrant testing and re-assembly a breeze.

Brake Cylinders – As brake cylinders wear, the piston and cylinder tend to fill up with dirt, brake dust, and metal particles. Improperly cleaning the parts prior to rebuild can result in pistons that hang and brakes that don’t work. Ultrasonic cleaning gets all of the debris out of the machined mating surfaces and cleans up the fluid reservoir.

Fuel Injectors – Cleaning fuel injectors by hand is much like cleaning carburetors; it’s a time-consuming process, and it’s very easy to damage a surface or nick the injector nozzle, which will result in inefficient fuel spray and poor performance. Soaking the injectors in solvent to dissolve the varnish helps, but the ports still need to be cleaned to get all of the deposits out of the opening. Ultrasonic cleaners make this task painless.

Differential – Removing the gear oil from a differential case usually requires the use of dangerous solvents, and leaves residue that makes inserting new bearings and seals difficult. Ultrasonic cleaning will leave a case that looks like brand new, and can clean up the ring and pinion gears for dye-penetrant checks and teeth inspections.

These are just a few of the components that ultrasonic cleaners can quickly prepare for repairs or rebuilding. We could just as easily include transmissions, alternators, fuel pumps, and emissions sensors in the mix. Regardless of the part or component, the fluids used in a vehicle and the deposits left behind from use can all quickly and completely be removed, making the ultrasonic cleaning machine the best tool in the auto mechanic’s garage.

Contact us for more information on ultrasonic cleaners. You can also find us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Standing water will continue to cause damage in the form of decay, warping, and rust, not to mention the longer-term effects of mold and mildew growth on your family’s health.

Getting the water out of your belongings quickly is the key to salvaging them after a catastrophic event like a fire or flood, and knowing how to handle soot and smoke-damaged articles is equally important. Here are some suggestions you can use to save your belongings in the short term if you are ever faced with such an event, and save them forever by using ultrasonic cleaning technology:

• Drain standing water immediately. Anything that can hold water should be turned over and emptied as soon as possible, including bowls, appliances, electronics, and furnishings.
• Remove waterlogged area rugs, blankets, clothes, tablecloths, and pillows and hang them up in a dry location.
• If you have power, get the air conditioning or heater running, floor and ceiling fans started, and a dehumidifier going.
• Use towels to soak up as much water as you can from furniture, flooring, and carpets. Wring the towels out, and repeat the process as many times as needed.
• Clothes covered with soot and smoke should not be washed, but should be turned over to a qualified restoration company specializing in soft contents cleaning. Soot does not dissolve in water, and will leave fabrics a greasy mess. Hard-surfaced objects, however, like bowls, appliances, and furnishings, can be sprayed with a degreaser and wiped down, but make sure the chemicals are compatible with the surface finishes. Some will melt plastics and paints. Don’t eat from kitchen utensils that have been cleaned in this way until they have been washed in warm soapy water with diluted bleach added.
• Important documents, papers, books, and pictures should be blotted with a paper towel and laid out on a flat surface to air dry. Keep them out of direct sunlight.
• If you have wooden furniture (or furniture with wooden legs) setting on wet carpet, lift each leg, wipe off any surface water, and then place a plastic sandwich baggie under and around it before setting it back down. This will keep additional water from being absorbed into the wood.
• Open as many drawers and doors as possible to promote air circulation and ventilation. This includes all interior doors, exterior doors where possible, and drawers and doors in furniture.

Notice that the words “throw it out” are not included anywhere on this list. That’s because modern ultrasonic cleaning technology makes it possible to save many of the items that previously would have been unsalvageable. Yes, there will still be things that must be discarded, but professional restoration companies equipped with ultrasonic cleaners can help you recover items as diverse as stuffed animals, computers, appliances, and mini blinds. The key is to get the standing water away from your items quickly, and then call a restoration company in short order to help you keep your possessions.

Ultrasonic cleaning is gentle, safe, and incredibly effective. The process can remove the soot and smoky smells left behind after a fire, remove mold and mildew, and safely clean your delicate, irreplaceable family heirlooms. Restoration companies can come right to your door to begin the salvage process and return your items to you, or send them off to a restoration center for special care (like large appliances and electronics). Everything you can save is something you don’t have to go out and buy again, so they can help you keep a substantial amount of money in your pocket.

Following the tips listed here can get you started on the path to saving your personal belongings, household goods, and family keepsakes. Once you’ve taken these steps, however, it’s important to contact a professional restoration company and get them working to return your items to pre-loss condition using ultrasonic cleaning technology.