"Restore Don't Replace" - Contents Restoration

This week I attended the CE classes by Mackenzie Restoration, INC on June 27, 2011 in San Antonio TX. The main topic of the day was contents restoration. Contents restoration is the ability to salvage items that were once considered destroyed or unsalvageable by loss of fire, sewage, or water. Contents mitigation is directly related to the amount of time that passes between the initial disaster and the beginning of the repair and restoration. Controlling the environment after your contents have been damaged could be the key between repairing your items or throwing them away.

 

ATP testing is used to determine the amount of contamination within an item. ATP is present in all animal, vegetable, bacteria, yeast, and mould cells. By swabbing contaminated goods with a ATP testing stick, the evaluation team is able to tell the exact bacteria count still held on or in an item.

Some examples of ATP levels are as follows: 

• Clean clothes fresh out of the washer are considered to have 200 ATP levels.
• A clean plate that is ready to eat off of is considered to have 10 ATP levels.
• A smoke damaged shirt could have levels of 500 ATP levels
• An item that has been removed from black water (raw sewage) is considered to have levels near 500-600 ATP.

The SystemSure II ATP Hygiene Monitoring System is used by professionals to determine levels of toxicity. This system uses state-of-the-art photodiode technology which measures refracted light from the swab which was earlier wiped on the item in question. By the type of light emitted the System Sure II can tell you what bacteria is present and how much is present. This system is used by the largest food processors in the world, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets, and other manufacturing industries where rapid detection of contamination is crucial.

 

So now what? After we have found out the contamination levels of our previously toxic and damaged goods, how do we remove the soot, sewage, and stains from the product?

Well this is something referred to as a "time machine", well almost. The Esporta wash brings extremely stained, contaminated, and unsalvageable products back to life and back to the owner.

The Esporta wash has 5 bins, such as the one displayed. Each machine costs about $100,000 and there are currently only three in the State of Texas, and one of which is strictly for military use.

The wash cycle has 4 different eco-friendly liquids that decontaminate and restore damaged goods. After, the wash the items are transported to a large dryer room in which they can be quickly dried out to ensure minimal bacterial growth. After seeing this machine work and testing the contamination levels before and after, I fully believe the Contents Restoration process.

Here is a before and after photo of suede shoes that were damaged by smoke/water/mold then restored by the Esporta wash.