CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA
Smoke damage cleanup in Chesapeake
Soot, staining and smoke odor removed from Chesapeake homes and businesses — usually with a crew on site within the hour. This is our home city: our shop and crews are based here, so Greenbrier, Great Bridge, Deep Creek, Hickory and Western Branch are a short drive, day or night.
Most Chesapeake smoke calls involve no burnt structure at all. An attached-garage fire, a fireplace backdraft, a dryer fire or a pan on the stove leaves black film on ceilings, ruined contents and an odor that comes back on humid days. Newer two-story homes here run big central duct systems, which is exactly how soot ends up in bedrooms two floors from the fire.
Smoke damage we see across Chesapeake
Attached-garage smoke
Greenbrier and Western Branch homes put the garage under living space. Burning tires, paint and plastics push oily black soot up through the ceiling and into bedrooms.
Fireplace and wood-stove backdraft
Common in Great Bridge and Hickory. A cold flue or blocked cap sends smoke back into the room and stains the mantel wall and carpet on the way.
Kitchen and protein soot
A thin amber film across every finished surface that smells far worse than it looks. It has to be chemically dissolved — wiping only spreads it.
Dryer, HVAC and electrical smoke
A dryer or air handler fire in a two-story home distributes soot through the whole duct system in minutes, even when the fire itself stayed in one closet.
Each residue needs a different cleaning agent. The wrong one pushes soot into the paint — the most common reason a DIY smoke cleanup has to be redone.
What our cleanup looks like
- STEP 1
Contain and stabilize
We seal off affected rooms, set negative air with HEPA filtration and shut the HVAC down so soot stops spreading through the house while we work.
- STEP 2
Test and map residue
Chem-sponge testing shows what cleans, what gets sealed and what has to be replaced. You get it in writing, with photos, before anything is discarded.
- STEP 3
Clean structure and contents
Walls, ceilings, trim, cabinet interiors, attic framing and crawlspace surfaces cleaned to substrate; contents inventoried, photographed and cleaned on or off site.
- STEP 4
Deodorize, seal, rebuild
Hydroxyl or fogging treatment, duct cleaning, stain-blocking sealer, then drywall, paint and trim — our own reconstruction crew, so it's one contractor start to finish.
Do this before you clean anything
- Photograph every room and every damaged item before it moves.
- Leave the HVAC off — running it spreads soot through the whole house.
- Don't wipe walls with a wet cloth; it sets oily soot into the paint.
- Bag food, medication and pet food that was exposed to smoke.
- Check the garage and attic — soot rises and settles where you won't think to look.
- Get the claim number from your adjuster before any demolition starts.
Credentials you can check
365 Restoration is a licensed and insured Virginia restoration contractor. Ask us for our license and certificate of insurance before work starts — we send them on request.
- Virginia licensed contractor
- License #2705138091 — verifiable with Virginia DPOR
- IICRC certified firm — water and fire & smoke
- IICRC certified firm #70269754 — water damage restoration (WRT) and fire & smoke restoration (FSRT), with technicians trained to IICRC S500 water, S700 fire and smoke, and S520 mold remediation standards
- EPA Lead-Safe certified firm
- National certification #NAT-F107699-1 for lead paint work and lead remediation
- EPA Lead-Safe certified firm
- National certification #NAT-F348269-1 for lead paint work and lead remediation
- Asbestos awareness certified
- Certificate #NOF178813531-47384-167569
- Bloodborne pathogens certified
- Certificate #NOF-178818052-352-167569
- GoldMorr licensed
- GoldMorr mold and mildew restoration license #20266926479
- GoldMorr Certified Master Technician — mold treatment
- Greg Starling — GoldMorr Certified Master Technician, mold treatment certificate #2026137769
- BOI Environmental ozone & hydroxyl remediation
- Certificate #BOIE-OHR0000051788
- Professional Mold Inspection Institute
- Certified mold remediator #CMR0000051782
- Xactimate certified estimating
- Scopes and estimates written in Xactimate — the platform insurance carriers use
- Fully insured
- General liability and workers' compensation — certificate of insurance on request
- Serving Hampton Roads since 1995
- 31 years restoring homes and businesses in Virginia
Related pages: smoke smell removal in Chesapeake, fire damage restoration in Chesapeake, indoor air quality testing, smoke damage cleanup in Norfolk and our insurance & adjuster guide.
Free Chesapeake smoke cleanup & odor removal checklist
A printable PDF with the first 24 hours, what never to do, the professional deodorization sequence and the documentation your insurer will ask for.
Nearby service areas
Our crews dispatch across Hampton Roads and Central Virginia 24/7. Pick the closest city for local response times, neighborhoods and project photos.
Working a claim? Read our insurance & adjuster guide and the IICRC S500/S520/S700 mitigation standards we document every job against.
See the full service-area mapFree Chesapeake estimate
Send photos of the soot and tell us where the smoke came from — we'll call you back with next steps. For an active emergency, call (757) 403-9958 so we can dispatch now.
Insurance & claims
We handle the claim like we handle the job — in plain English
Most people have never filed a fire, water or mold claim before in Chesapeake. Here is exactly how it runs, what you do, and what we do. No insurance-speak, no surprises at the end.
Preview opens the PDF right here — from there you can open it in a new tab to print or save it to Files.
We are a licensed Virginia restoration contractor (VA 2705138091), not a public adjuster. We document your loss and write the repair scope — your carrier decides coverage under your policy.
365 Restoration · 1720 Lambert Court, Unit I, Chesapeake, Virginia 23320 · Serving Chesapeake and Hampton Roads since 1995.