How big of a facility do you need to conduct contents restoration? And, if you want to work with hard and soft contents, which should you get started with first? Annissa Coy answers these two questions.

When considering abrasives for property restoration, four important physical characteristics help determine proper application. Media blasting expert Wayne Lawrence shares these characteristics along with popular alternatives to sand blasting in this overview of abrasive blast media.

In this episode of Ask Annissa, Annissa Coy answers the following question: “I was wondering how you handle so many different specialty type things that we need to clean when it comes to contents restoration. For instance, I have a home that had a light fire and they have a six-foot, mounted bear that was in the living room.” 

In the age of digitalization, why should risk managers, contractors and insurance professionals pay closer attention to document restoration? What type of work sites or clients require document restoration? What is the technical process to restore documents in a way that these items are later safe to use? The why of document restoration can be divided into three categories: Efficiency, legality and sentimentality, Boris Skoro writes.

What are the most important restoration tools and advancements for CAT, cleaning and disinfection, contents, fire and smoke, forensic, mold, and water damage work? We asked 14 industry experts to weigh in.

Kowalski Construction faced an extraordinary task in one of its recent projects. After a large fire ravaged one of Arizona’s largest malls, one-third of the shopping center was affected with heavy smoke and water damage. As one of the area’s only construction companies qualified to handle a job of this magnitude, they were asked to perform restoration services, but with a twist. Managers wanted to keep the mall open for business.

In this episode of Ask Annissa, Annissa Coy responds to a question from a restorer who disposed of contents on a non-salvageable list and now is dealing with an unhappy homeowner. She clarifies how they can avoid going through this in the future.

Annissa Coy answers a question she’s never been asked before: “Would you ever use clean bric-a-brac heavy clean, high density line item…?” In her response Coy shares her approach to efficient billing.

“Hoarding cleanup is not an easy task, and it is best done by restoration professionals who have the expertise and equipment to perform the job efficiently and safely. By no means was this particular case the worst I have seen in my tenure, but the timeline from the property management company was tight, so we needed to get to work quickly and efficiently,” Ben Doebler writes.

Annissa Coy has found over the years that when a hoarding job goes sideways, there are three big mistakes that often are the culprit. “If you avoid these, you will be setting yourself and your client up for success right from the start,” she writes.