Fast, Reliable Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Across Lilburn
Fire damage in Lilburn moves fast, and so do we. Smoke keeps working its way into drywall, insulation, ductwork, and the crawl space under your floors long after the flames are out. In most of Lilburn’s 1970s through 1990s ranch homes and split-levels, what you can’t see below the fire room is usually worse than what you can. Wade Ferris answers his own phone at (888) 690-3757, and he can have a crew in Lilburn inside the hour to start pulling smoke out before it sets into your home’s subfloor and joist bays.
We’ve worked fires in both 30047 and 30048, from cul-de-sac subdivisions off Lawrenceville Highway to older ranch neighborhoods near Five Forks Trickum Road. Every job gets a written scope before work starts. No phone quote that changes at your door.
Why Wade’s Restoration of Atlanta Is Lilburn’s Preferred Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Company
Wade Ferris started this company in 2007 and he still shows up on jobs himself. Not a regional manager. The owner. Lilburn homeowners tend to appreciate that, especially after a fire, when you want to look the person in charge in the eye and ask real questions about whether your subfloor is salvageable or your HVAC ducts need replacement. Wade publishes his name and license number on every contract. Ask anyone off Killian Hill Road or near Lilburn City Park who’s had a fire loss, and you’ll hear the same thing: the guy answers his own phone.
We’re known in Lilburn for the 90-Day Done Right Promise, stamped in writing on every fire and smoke restoration job. If the odor comes back or something wasn’t done right, one call brings Wade back. No arguments. We also hand over the full moisture and air-quality log from every day of the job, which almost nobody else in this trade does. When your insurance adjuster has questions, Wade talks to them directly. You’re not the one stuck relaying information between two parties.
Response time to Lilburn matters. Smoke sets into porous surfaces within hours, and Lilburn’s year-round humidity above 70% means soot bonds to surfaces faster than in drier climates. We answer live, 24/7, and Wade heads out the same night when the call comes in.
Our Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Services in Lilburn
Smoke & Soot Removal
This is where Lilburn homes hide problems. Soot from a kitchen fire in a 1980s ranch off Lawrenceville Highway will ride the HVAC system into every room, but the real trouble is often underneath. We clean ceiling-to-floor in the fire room, then go below. In Lilburn’s pier-and-beam crawl spaces, smoke gets pulled under the entire floor system during a fire, and we routinely find odor trapped in subfloor insulation and joist bays even when the living space looks clean. We run HEPA air scrubbers from Dri-Eaz and XPOWER axial fans to pull that smoke out before sealing anything up.
Odor Removal & Deodorization
Repainting a smoke-damaged wall in a Lilburn home without treating what’s behind it is a temporary fix. We’ve seen it fail in the 1980s subdivisions off Five Forks Trickum Road more times than we can count. The smell comes back the first humid week because smoke particles embedded in drywall and insulation reactivate in Gwinnett’s moisture. We use thermal fogging, hydroxyl generators, and direct injection into wall cavities and floor systems. The goal is to eliminate the odor source, not mask it. If it’s still there at the end, the 90-Day Done Right Promise covers it, in writing.
Structural Fire Repair
After the fire is out, Lilburn’s older homes need a structural eye. Charred floor joists, compromised subfloor OSB, and trusses weakened by heat don’t always look bad from above. We’ve pulled up flooring in ranch homes where the subfloor was charcoal underneath but the carpet on top only smelled faintly of smoke. In slab-on-grade homes with dirt crawl spaces below, like many off Lawrenceville Highway, a slow smolder can wick into the sill plate and girders before anyone notices. We repair or replace what’s compromised, and we document it for your adjuster so the claim reflects what’s actually there, not just what’s visible.
Contents Cleaning & Pack-Out
Smoke from a Lilburn house fire gets into everything: clothes, upholstery, books, electronics, sentimental things that can’t be replaced. We do on-site contents cleaning when it makes sense, and full pack-out with documented inventory when the house needs structural work first. Every item is photographed before it moves. We clean with ultrasonic equipment and ozone treatment where appropriate, and we store contents in a climate-controlled facility until your home in Lilburn is ready. You get a written inventory so you know exactly what left and exactly what came back.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Common Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Problems We See in Lilburn Homes
- Smoke trapped in crawl spaces under fire rooms: Lilburn’s 1970s through 1990s ranch and split-level homes often sit on pier-and-beam foundations. Smoke and soot get pulled under the floor system during a fire and settle into insulation, subfloor OSB, and ductwork. Upper rooms can look fine while the crawl space reeks, and the smell resurfaces every time the HVAC kicks on.
- Water-based soot cleaning that reactivates old polybutylene pipes: Many Lilburn homes built before the mid-1990s still have polybutylene supply lines, and decades of Gwinnett’s mineral-heavy water has already made them brittle. Using water-based extraction on soot near those pipes can reactivate the same mineral-heavy moisture that degrades them, leading to a secondary leak behind a wall. We check plumbing before choosing a cleaning method.
- Failed board-ups before summer storms: After a fire, a hasty board-up with unreinforced plywood is a common sight in Lilburn. Then a convective thunderstorm rolls through with wind gusts and heavy rain, and the board-up fails wind-load checks, letting water pour onto an already damaged structure. We reinforce openings and tarp them properly, because Lilburn’s summer storm season is not the time for a flimsy patch job.
- HVAC duct contamination after small fires: A small kitchen fire in a tight 1980s Lilburn home can push soot through the return air system into rooms at the other end of the house and into duct runs in the crawl space. If you don’t clean the ducts, the smell returns every time the system cycles on. We inspect and clean ductwork as part of every smoke job, not as an add-on.
Pricing for Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Lilburn, GA
In Lilburn, a typical smoke and soot cleanup after a small kitchen fire runs $3,500 to $7,500 when it’s mostly contained to one room. Full odor removal with crawl space access, duct cleaning, and structural repairs on a larger fire usually lands between $12,000 and $30,000 depending on how far smoke traveled through the floor system. Contents cleaning and pack-out typically adds $2,000 to $8,000 on top, based on volume and how much needs ultrasonic treatment versus on-site cleaning. These are real ranges from jobs we’ve done in 30047 and 30048, not national averages. What moves the number: whether the crawl space below the fire room is smoke-contaminated, how much subfloor OSB needs replacement, and whether polybutylene plumbing complicates the cleanup method. We give a free, written estimate after we’ve seen the house. Call (888) 690-3757 and Wade will walk it with you.
We Also Serve Cities Near Lilburn
While this page covers Lilburn, our crews work throughout this part of Gwinnett County. We run fire & smoke damage restoration jobs in Lawrenceville, Norcross, Snellville, and Duluth regularly. If you’re in one of those cities and you’ve had a fire, same response, same written scope, same Wade. If you’re in Lilburn proper, here’s how we serve Lilburn specifically.
Serving Lilburn, GA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Lilburn area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Lilburn
Smoke odor lingers in Lilburn homes because smoke particles get pulled into the crawl space, wall cavities, and HVAC ductwork, especially in the pier-and-beam ranch and split-level homes common here. Those particles absorb Gwinnett’s high year-round humidity and re-release odor whenever the air moves. A surface clean of visible soot doesn’t touch what’s under the fire room, so the smell comes back. Call (888) 690-3757 and we’ll trace where the smoke actually went before quoting anything.
Yes, you should inspect the crawl space below the fire room. In Lilburn’s ranch homes on pier-and-beam foundations, smoke and soot get pulled under the floor system during a fire and settle into subfloor insulation, joist bays, and duct runs. If that’s not cleaned and treated, odor returns every time the HVAC runs, and charred subfloor OSB can keep degrading from moisture. This is the first place we inspect on a Lilburn fire job.
We head straight under the house. In 1980s Lilburn subdivisions, the combination of slab-on-grade living space and a dirt crawl space below means a fire’s smoke wicks down into the subfloor and joist bays quickly. We probe the OSB, check insulation for soot, and inspect duct runs before anyone starts cleaning the visible rooms. After a kitchen fire in a cul-de-sac off Five Forks Trickum Road, we used Dri-Eaz air scrubbers and XPOWER axial fans to pull smoke from an open crawl space while removing charred subfloor and re-insulating the joist bays. A surface clean would have left odor for months.
Lilburn’s summer convective storms bring intense, localized rainfall and wind gusts that a flimsy board-up can’t handle. Unreinforced plywood over a fire-damaged opening fails wind-load checks and lets water pour onto the already compromised structure. That creates a secondary water damage job on top of the fire restoration. We use reinforced panels and proper tarping, because the storm will come. It always does here.
No. Paint seals the visible stain but not the odor source. Smoke particles embedded in 1980s drywall and insulation reactivate in Lilburn’s humidity, and the smell bleeds through within weeks. The wall needs sealing with a shellac-based primer or the drywall section replaced, and the cavity behind it needs treatment. We see repainted smoke walls fail in Lilburn neighborhoods regularly. Get it done right the first time; it costs less than doing it twice.
Call Wade’s Restoration for Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Lilburn
If you’ve had a fire in Lilburn, in 30047 or 30048, don’t wait for the smoke to set. Call (888) 690-3757. Wade answers his own phone, day or night. He’ll walk you through what to do in the first hour, tell you honestly whether you need full restoration or a targeted cleanup, and give you a written estimate before any work starts. Estimates are free. There’s no trip charge inside our county, and a Senior & Veteran 10% discount applies on every job, always. We’ll be there fast, we’ll be straight with you, and if it’s not done right, we make it right. That’s in writing.
Written by Wade Ferris, Owner at Wade’s Restoration of Atlanta, serving Lilburn and Gwinnett County since 2007.