Cleaning

One customer wanted the contents team to use baking soda and vinegar to get the smoke odors out of her kitchen (she had heard that “natural” cleaning products were way better than “manufactured” innovations). Baking soda and vinegar are great for science class volcanos, and the grit in baking soda works with vinegar if you […]

Sometimes even the contents valet need to call upon their contents specialty associates for some expert help. You may have seen contents frontline workers carefully rinsing thoroughly saturated books, photo albums, and office files, then deliberately freezing them. They were already wet, so why get them wetter? After all, most water damage occurs when the […]

We have often referred to contents valet as “The Swiss Army Knives” of restoration. In the above article we mentioned that some of the team were assigned to clean the vats and wine-processing plant, getting fire retardant and smoke odors out so the state investigator could make sure there was no residue anywhere near the […]

2000 firefighters managed to save a vineyard, but the winery and the adjacent home were coated with thick soot and had fire damage to the front porch of the house, the vats and processing area. So the structural team headed to the winery, while the contents team went to work on the home. The owners, […]

NBC news recently released a story for the “Today” show with the headline, “New test allows people to swab for COVID-19 on surfaces in public places.” The news story continues with, “The makers of a new test say that you can use a simple swab to find out in 48 hours if any surface is […]

In a past issue of Contents Solutions, we told of “robots” that were being used in some hospitals to decontaminate rooms using ultraviolet light bursts. But they weren’t the first use of ultraviolet light for disinfection. It turns out that scientists discovered its virus and bacterial killing abilities over 100 years ago. Some UV lights […]

You already know that moving companies pay about 60 cents a pound for things they damage. Thus a $1000 television, weighing 30 pounds, will only get the owner about $18. On the other hand, no matter if the TV was damaged by fire, flood  or in transport, the Contents Manager will try various calculations to […]

In this topsy-turvy world where an infectious disease is ravaging a major part of the country, some well-meaning homeowners have been known to make mistakes in their house cleaning regimen. You already know about things like not mixing bleach with ammonia (even though many insureds have thought that to be a good idea). The gas […]

There are certain items and substances which the pack out team have to disallow from their lists of things they will pack, transport and store. Gasoline, paint, nail polish remover, and other flammables come to mind, as do guns, ammunition, insecticides and other volatile compounds. Lotions can expand, or the bottle may split. Perfumes can […]

Okay, picture this – there was a “Big Box” department store that had a small fire in the men’s department. Strong smoke odors were contained to that one part of the store, but the general manager did not want to close the store (it normally stayed open 24 hours) and he didn’t want to give […]