Fire Damage Restoration services in Chicago

Hallways and shared stairwells can carry smoke to units that never saw flames. High-rise management also controls access and building systems after a fire.

Winter fires add another risk, since firefighting water can freeze in a building left without heat.

Logan Square has greystones and brick two-flats. Portage Park and Jefferson Park have 1910 to 1940 brick bungalows with full basements, while Lakeview and Uptown have many courtyard buildings and lakefront towers.

Start with fire damage restoration, smoke damage cleanup or board-up and tarping. Older homes may need lead-safe work.

Cities and neighborhoods: Lakeview, Logan Square, Loop and South Loop, Portage Park and Jefferson Park, River North and Streeterville, Uptown and Edgewater.

In a single-family bungalow, you do, once the Chicago Fire Department has released the property. In a two-flat you likely share the decision with another household. In a condo or a downtown tower, the association or management controls access, elevators and shared systems. Sort that out early, because it decides who can let the contractor in.

Do not go back in until firefighters release the building and utilities are confirmed safe. If you smell gas, leave and call Peoples Gas from outside.

The Great Chicago Fire burned from October 8 to 10, 1871, destroying about 17,500 buildings over roughly 2,100 acres. About 300 people are believed to have died. Officials started rewriting fire standards almost immediately, driven in part by insurers and reformers, and a good deal of Chicago's masonry character traces back to that period.

Brick outside does not mean fireproof inside. Many older houses and flats have wood framing behind the masonry or siding, and balloon-framed walls can run uninterrupted from basement to attic. Smoke, and sometimes fire, can travel through those cavities. Ask the contractor to look above and below the room that burned.

Chicago's other big home emergency is basement flooding. From June 29 to July 2, 2023, a storm dropped an amount the National Weather Service put at 2 to 9 inches on the western part of the city and nearby suburbs. WBEZ counted more than 12,000 basement flooding reports to 311 from July 2 to July 18, and about four in ten of those came from Austin.

If this is your situation, stop using your drains, report it to 311 and go to flooded basement cleanup. The same bungalow basement can face both risks across a single year.

Repair work after a fire, such as electrical, plumbing, drywall or porches, may need a permit from the Department of Buildings. Rebuilding a rear porch or garage is permitted work, and a contractor should handle the application. For designated landmarks or properties in landmark districts, like the Logan Square Boulevards, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks generally reviews permitted exterior work as well.

Lead is routine here because so much of the housing predates 1978. Under EPA rules, paid work disturbing paint in those homes needs a certified firm using lead-safe methods. Have doubtful materials tested first.

Additional living expense coverage, according to the state's Department of Insurance, pays for the rise in your spending above normal; relatives you stay with may need to show proof of what you paid them. Tenants need to know a landlord's policy does not cover their belongings. Condo owners should check how the association's master policy and their own unit coverage divide up the walls, floors and fixtures.

If a claim stalls, you can file a complaint with the department. Read working with your insurance adjuster and the house fire first-day guide for the practical side.