Water damage drying
Fire & smoke cleanup
Mold remediation
Storm response
Sewage cleanup
ReconstructionFree visual inspection and a written scope of work before any mitigation begins - photos, moisture readings, and drying logs go in your claim file
The scope we write is the scope we bill. Anything new gets shown to you, in writing, before we touch it.
Get your free estimateFast, Reliable Fire Damage Restoration Across Novato
Fire damage restoration in Novato typically runs $1,800 – $7,500 for smoke and soot cleanup, while full structural fire repair on a single room starts around $4,000 and can reach $40,000+ for whole-home rebuilds. Most insurance claims in Novato take 3 – 6 weeks from first assessment to final walkthrough, and our crews can usually be on site within 2 – 4 hours of your call. We answer live, 24/7, at (831) 400-3496. If you’re standing in a smoke-filled living room in San Marin or Black Point right now, call first – we’ll walk you through what to do before we arrive.
Why Tidemark Water Damage San Francisco Is Novato’s Preferred Fire Damage Restoration Company
Novato fire restoration jobs carry a set of local complications that a generic restoration franchise simply doesn’t prepare for. The flat roofs in San Marin, the stucco exteriors on 1970s ranchers in Hamilton, the hillside lots winding up through Indian Valley – each one changes how smoke moves, where water pools, and how fast materials dry. Our technicians have worked these streets long enough to know that a fire in a Novato home often means water extraction first, smoke cleanup second. That’s not a sales pitch. It’s the reality of roof ponds and fire suppression.
We’re independently owned and operated, working to the Cedarwell Care Promise, and every Novato job starts the same way: a written price before any work begins. Shoe covers go on at the door. Drop cloths cover the floor before the first piece of equipment comes in. When the crew leaves, you get a photo of the cleanup. Rick Sumner, who leads our team, holds every technician to that standard on every fire damage job in Novato – no exceptions, no surprises.
Restoration work we handle
Smoke Odor Removal in Novato
Smoke odor removal in Novato usually costs $900 – $2,800 depending on square footage and how long the smoke has been sitting in the structure. In homes throughout the city, we’re often dealing with wildfire residue that drifted in during the dry season and settled into stucco, drywall, and attic insulation. That’s different from a single kitchen fire – it’s layered, baked in, and it takes more than an ozone machine to fix.
What We Actually Do
We pull smoke from surfaces using HEPA filtration and thermal fogging, then reseal the materials that absorbed it. On a 1970s stucco home near San Marin Drive, that means sealing the porous exterior walls before repainting – because if you skip that step, the odor off-gasses again during the next heat spell, and you’re left wondering why the fire smell came back.
Odor Trapping in Attic Trusses
Hillside Novato homes with poor cross-ventilation trap smoke in attic trusses and insulation. We use XPOWER air movers and commercial-grade scrubbers to pull contaminated air out of those dead zones. Then we check the roof before we finish, because a ‘roof pond’ hidden under the smoke damage will send moisture right back into the dried framing.
Fire and Water Damage Restoration in Novato
Fire and water damage restoration in Novato typically runs $3,500 – $12,000 when firefighting water has soaked through drywall, flooring, and ceiling cavities before smoke cleanup can begin. This is the most common scenario we see in San Marin, where flat roofs can pool water for days and the fire department’s hoses take the fastest path straight through to the living room below.
Extraction First, Smoke Second
You can’t deodorize wet drywall. So we run Phoenix extractors and Dri-Eaz dehumidifiers on the saturated materials first, document moisture readings in writing, then cut out the charred sections once the framing is down to pre-loss condition. The order matters, and skipping it is how homeowners end up with mold in the walls a month after the fire.
Category 2 Water and Documentation
Firefighting water is typically category 2 – it’s clean enough to touch but not safe to leave in the structure. We document every affected area with photos and moisture logs so your insurance adjuster sees exactly what was done and why. If you’re filing a claim on a Novato fire, that documentation is often the difference between a covered restoration and a dispute.
Trusted Brands We Service in Novato
We stock genuine Injectidry and XPOWER parts for Novato jobs, so we’re not waiting on a warehouse in Sacramento when a hillside home in Indian Valley needs a drying panel or air scrubber replaced mid-project. Our technicians hold IICRC, RIA, and IFA credentials, and the equipment we run on your Novato fire damage restoration is the same commercial-grade gear used by leading restoration specialists nationwide. If a machine fails, we swap it from our local truck, not from a catalog.
See the difference
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AfterCommon Fire Damage Restoration Problems We See in Novato Homes
– Roof ponds over fire-damaged ceilings – San Marin flat roofs pool winter rainwater, and when firefighting water adds to that load, the ceiling below can collapse mid-restoration. We check the roof before we touch the drywall, every time. We got a call after a kitchen fire on San Marin Drive. The blaze was out, but the water had poured straight through the flat roof’s ‘roof pond’ into the living room below. Our techs set up containment in the hallway, pulled category 2 water with a Phoenix extractor, and logged every moisture reading on the saturated drywall before cutting out the charred sections. By day four the Dri-Eaz dehumidifiers had brought the framing to pre-loss condition and the smoke smell was gone from the upstairs bedrooms.
– Smoke baked into stucco – Novato’s long, dry summers let wildfire or kitchen-fire smoke settle into porous stucco and drywall. If cleanup is delayed a few weeks, the odor bonds with the material and becomes dramatically harder to remove. On 1960s and 1970s homes especially, stucco acts like a smoke sponge.
– Hillside ventilation dead zones – Steep lots in Indian Valley and parts of Hamilton have poor natural airflow across attic spaces. Smoke gets trapped in trusses and insulation and off-gasses after every hot spell. Off-the-shelf air movers won’t clear it; commercial XPOWER units run for days, not hours.
– Water-mitigated fire damage with hidden ponding – Contractors who dry the interior but ignore ‘roof ponds’ on flat roofs set the stage for mold within 48 hours. The homeowner blames the fire restoration, but the root cause was drainage. We inspect the roof line as standard practice on every Novato fire job.
Pricing for Fire Damage Restoration in Novato, CA
We Also Serve Cities Near Novato
Our Fire Damage Restoration team serves Novato and the surrounding North Bay communities. If you’re in San Rafael, Vallejo, Richmond, or Berkeley, we bring the same written-price-first approach and the same 365-Day Done Right Promise. We coordinate every Fire Damage Restoration in Novato project locally, with crews dispatched from our Bay Area office and trucks stocked for these neighborhoods.
Serving Novato, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Novato 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 About Fire Damage Restoration in Novato
Our San Marin home had a small electrical fire and the fire department used a lot of water – do we need a separate water restoration company?
No. We handle water extraction and fire cleanup as one continuous job, which is what San Marin homes usually need given the flat roof ponding in that neighborhood. The water gets pulled and dried first, then we move to smoke and soot. Call (831) 400-3496 and we’ll send one crew that does both.
How do you remove wildfire smoke odor that has settled into our 1970s stucco home over several dry summers?
We use thermal fogging and HEPA air scrubbing to pull the residue out of the stucco and drywall, then seal the surfaces so the odor can’t off-gas during the next heat spell. The longer it sits, the deeper it bonds, so we recommend addressing it before another dry summer passes.
What does ‘category 1, 2, or 3 water’ mean for our Novato fire damage claim?
Category 1 is clean water, category 2 is water with contaminants (firefighting water is typically category 2), and category 3 is sewage or heavily contaminated water. Most Novato fire claims involve category 2 water, which means it must be extracted, dried, and documented with moisture readings before repairs begin. We provide that documentation to your adjuster directly.
We live on a steep hillside lot in Novato – why does that make smoke cleanup and drying harder?
Hillside homes often have attics and wall cavities with poor airflow, so smoke and moisture get trapped in places a flat-lot house wouldn’t. We run commercial XPOWER air movers on longer cycles and check those dead zones specifically, because that’s where Novato fire restorations tend to fail when crews use residential-grade equipment.
Do you need a Novato permit to gut and rebuild fire-damaged rooms on our 1960s wood-sided house?
Yes. Structural fire repair in Novato requires building permits from the city, and Marin County has specific requirements for fire-resistant materials in rebuilds. We handle the paperwork as part of the written scope and schedule, so you’re not navigating the permit counter alone.
If you’re dealing with fire damage in Novato – smoke, soot, water, or all three – call (831) 400-3496. We’ll answer in person, walk through what you’re seeing, and give you a written price before any work starts. No pressure, no surprise line items, and the job is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise long after the crew drives away.
Written by Rick Sumner, Owner at Tidemark Water Damage San Francisco, serving Novato since 2006.