Robinson Restoration is an IICRC-certified fire and smoke damage restoration company serving Tacoma, WA. We secure and board up the property the same day, clean soot and smoke residue by type, remove odor at its source, and manage the rebuild through vetted licensed contractors and sister companies.
Your tenant calls: a pan of oil caught, the fire is out, the kitchen looks fine. It is not fine. Fire and smoke damage restoration in Tacoma after a grease fire is about a residue that hides on white paint, and about sorting your loss from the tenant's.
The rentals in the North End, on the North Slope and around Hilltop are bungalows and foursquares from the 1900 to 1930 build-out, and a lot of the bigger houses in the Stadium District were split into apartments with kitchens stacked one over the other. Plaster walls, original fir trim and painted cabinets do not show a protein film; they hold it. A grease fire leaves a thin amber layer on every surface, nearly invisible on white, with an odor that gets stronger in a shut-up house through a long wet Tacoma winter. In a stacked building, it climbs the shared chase into the unit above.
Robinson Restoration dispatches to Tacoma from our Kent operations center, and on a rental the first visit does two jobs at once. The property gets secured, the utilities checked, and every room photographed before cleanup. Then the documentation splits: the structure, cabinets, plaster and floors go on your scope; the tenant's belongings get photographed and barcoded on their own inventory, so their carrier and yours each get a clean file. Protein residue is cleaned by type on every surface in the unit, including the ones that look untouched. We bill your carrier directly, and any rebuild runs through vetted licensed contractors and sister companies with one project manager on the file.
In a Tacoma rental, Secure includes the tenant's unit and the one above it, photographed before anyone wipes a cabinet.
Once the fire department releases the property, we board up openings, tarp the roof, check utilities and pull out the firefighting water. Everything gets photographed for your claim before anything is moved.
Soot is cleaned by residue type, because wet smoke, dry smoke and protein film each respond to different methods. HEPA air scrubbing, hydroxyl or ozone treatment and source removal end the odor instead of masking it.
Charred framing, drywall, flooring and finishes go back through vetted licensed contractors and sister companies, managed by the same Robinson project manager from the first day to the final inspection.
A grease fire or a pot forgotten on the burner leaves protein residue: a thin amber film on cabinets, ceilings, the inside of the fridge, the tops of door casings, everywhere. On the white paint most Tacoma rental kitchens wear, you cannot see it. You smell it, and so does the next unit. It is cleaned by residue type, surface by surface, and a quick wipe-down by the tenant does not get it.
The big houses above Commencement Bay carved into apartments put kitchens on top of each other, sharing a chase for the vents and pipes. Smoke from a first-floor grease fire rides that chase into the kitchen above. Two units means two containments, two contents inventories and a schedule for both tenants. We phase the work with hard containment and negative air so units that stayed clean stay occupied.
The cabinets, the plaster, the fir trim and the ductwork are the building, and the building is your claim. The tenant's cookware, clothes and furniture are theirs. We keep the two apart from the first photo: the structure goes on a written line-item scope for your adjuster, and the tenant's belongings go on a room-by-room inventory with ages and values that they can hand to their own carrier. Two files, no overlap.
Tacoma's rain runs in long soaking stretches from November into March, and a rental kitchen shut up for four months keeps protein odor circulating through the furnace, which is why fire and smoke damage restoration in a Tacoma rental includes the ductwork. Odor ends with source removal, HEPA air scrubbing and a hydroxyl or ozone cycle while the unit is empty. There is no spray we can sell you instead.
In Tacoma, the fire is rarely the biggest part of the job. The residue we spend the most time on shows up in three places: kitchens after cooking fires, shared walls in multi-family buildings, and closets and contents. Each one holds smoke for a different reason, which changes what gets cleaned and what has to come out.
In a grease fire the flame stays at the range but the protein film lands on the whole room: the inside of the upper cabinets, the drawers, the ceiling, the light fixtures. It is barely visible on white paint. Cabinets that can be saved get cleaned by residue type and sealed; painted doors that still hold odor after cleaning go on the rebuild scope.
Century-old Tacoma houses split into units share plaster walls, a stairwell and the chases that carry pipes and vents between floors, and smoke uses all of them. The upstairs tenant who never saw the flame still gets residue on the kitchen cabinets. Each unit is contained, photographed and inventoried separately so two claims do not share one file.
A tenant's contents after a grease fire are mostly textiles and cookware: curtains, towels, closet clothes, the pans on the stove. Textiles go to specialty washing, hard goods to ultrasonic cleaning, and every item is photographed and barcoded before it leaves the unit, on an inventory that belongs to the tenant's claim, not the owner's.
Water is how most losses start. It’s rarely where they end. The same local crew handles all of it.
Once the soot is gone and the odor is verified out, we manage the rebuild through licensed contractors. Drag the handle to compare a documented Robinson project.
“We hired Robinson Restoration after a boiler joint failed and leaked what we thought was a small amount of water in our laundry room, but turned out to be more serious than it appeared. They did a fantastic job from first contact to insurance claim approval.”
Randi Covin · Google Review
“We had a major sewer back up a couple of weeks ago, into the laundry room and downstairs bathroom. Panic! We were referred to Robinson Restoration and what a blessing. The whole crew has been wonderful.”
Lynn Dee King · Google Review
“One of the pipes in the shower burst and water damage got all over the roof in the kitchen. As new home owners we were very scared and panicked. We contacted Kelly Farmer from Robinson Restoration and believe me when I say I felt like more than half of my problem was solved.”
Nav Basra · Google Review
Fire is one of the most reliably covered perils in a homeowners policy, and a Tacoma fire claim usually touches the dwelling, contents and additional living expenses at once. In Washington, you choose your restoration contractor. We photograph everything before cleanup starts, inventory contents room by room, write a line-item scope, and bill your carrier directly. You pay your deductible.
Subject to policy coverage and deductible. We handle the paperwork, photos, and adjuster calls.
A landlord searching fire damage restoration near me in Tacoma after the tenant's call needs a person who answers and a crew that treats the file as carefully as the kitchen. Ours come from the Kent operations center, on-site in 90 minutes or less, with board-up material and the pack-out system, and split the documentation into your claim and the tenant's. Free inspection, direct billing, one project manager.
The building is your claim; the tenant's belongings are theirs. Fire is one of the most reliably covered perils, so the cabinets, plaster, floors, ductwork and cleaning go on your scope, billed to your carrier directly, with your deductible as your share. The tenant's clothes, cookware and furniture go on a separate inventory for their own renters policy, if they carry one. Ask your agent whether your policy covers lost rent while the unit is empty. Robinson Restoration keeps the two files apart from day one.
You need it, because protein residue is the one you cannot see. A grease fire leaves a thin amber film on every surface in the room, nearly invisible on white paint, with a strong odor that gets worse in a closed-up unit. Acidic residue also starts etching and staining within days, so the range hood, the tile and the chrome mark up while everyone is deciding. A tenant wiping the counters does not touch the ceiling, the cabinet interiors or the return duct. We clean by residue type and test that the odor is gone.
Often yes, when their units did not take smoke. Work can be phased with hard containment and negative air so the rest of a building stays open, and we check each unit on the first visit rather than assuming the smoke stopped at the door. In a house with stacked kitchens on a shared chase, the unit above usually did take residue and gets its own scope. Hydroxyl and ozone cycles run with the affected units empty. You get the list of who can stay and who cannot before the schedule is set.
Through one project manager and a file you can read from anywhere. Robinson Restoration photographs every room before cleanup, writes a line-item scope, meets your adjuster, packs out the tenant's contents on a separate inventory, and sends supplements for hidden damage to the adjuster with photos. You do not need to be in the driveway. The same project manager runs any rebuild through vetted licensed contractors and sister companies, and upgrades you choose for the unit are quoted separately from the claim.
Less than after a structure fire, more than a tenant expects. Charred material and anything porous that soaked up residue come out. Odor ends with source removal. Painted cabinets that still smell after cleaning get scoped for replacement, the return duct gets cleaned, and plaster near the range is cleaned and sealed when it can be. In a pre-1930 Tacoma house any demolition means an asbestos survey first, which Washington requires, so joint compound and sheet flooring get tested.
Held as recoverable depreciation until the work is finished and invoiced, which is how most policies pay a fire claim. The carrier releases the balance once the restoration and rebuild are done and the invoice is in. That is why the documentation matters: photos before cleanup, a written scope, daily equipment logs, and a final invoice from Robinson Restoration that matches the scope line for line. Upgrades you added for the next tenant are quoted and paid separately, so they do not get tangled up in the claim.
Grease fire in a Tacoma rental? Get a free inspection and a file that keeps your claim and your tenant's separate.
Licensed · Insured · IICRC Certified · Serving Washington & Oregon
