Help: Experience with Smoke Damage?

KL Smith

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Posts
277
Loc
Jordan Village, ON, Canada
I'm in new territory here.

A customer just dropped off 6 needlepoints. Three framed, and three unframed. He has had a fire at his house and the insurance company wants a quote on dry cleaning these pieces. He claims the insurance company will not pay for new frames and liners, which probably were awful before the fire (he's a heavy smoker).

All these items just stink of fire smoke. At least I had the presence of mind to immediately put them all in garbage bags and tape them up before my whole shop smelled like we were having a real Fire Sale!

Any experience with this sort of thing? Will dry cleaning get the odor out? How would I clean the frames and liners to rid them of the smell?

Or?????

Thanks,
 
Why would someone bring items that need to be dry cleaned to a picture framer...?

I don't get it.

Time to get in touch with some fire restoration folks. Maybe his insurance company can recommend someone?
 
You probably need a textile conservator more than a dry cleaner.
Did any of the soot from the fire get into the fiber of the needlepoints? This may especially difficult to remedy if so.
There may be expenses in getting decent estimates for treatment. I would make sure the insurance company is aware of this and is in agreement in covering these costs.

I cleaned a collection of frames that were in a doctor's office that someone tried to burn down. They tossed a Molotov Cocktail through a window. Fortunately it was a bathroom winfdow and there was little flamable material inside. It did cause extensive smoke damage, and the frames and glass were covered in soot. It was a messy project, and some of the frames that had built-in fabric panels were not cleanable. It was a time consuming project too, and the shop smelled of soot for a long time after the work was gone.

See if they will go for sending the pieces to a conservator...otherwise, taking a "pass" on this job might be the best thing to do.
 
His insurance company sounds like a scam setup...I don't understand why they wouldn't pay for new frames/liners when smoke damage is just about irreprable, especially on the liners.

I, too would pass on the job.
 
Thank you all for your advice.

I have called the customer and told him that we cannot do this work for him. Beside the time and energy in quoting this out (which we might not get the work anyway), I simply cannot take the chance of his smoke stinky pieces contaminating other client's work. There's no way you're are going to get the smell out of those liners and stretchers.

Even double-plastic bagging them last night, I could still smell the soot/smoke this morning when I opened up. No thanks!

Don't know what I was thinking. I guess I just hate saying no to a customer.

Sincere thanks for saving me from a major head banger!
 
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