I need advice

[Marcel Carey]

Some questions:

What was used to put out the fire?
	If water was used, that created a lot of steam in the house. This
could have voiced down the piano and weakened the structural joints
(soundboard, rim etc.). The damage could become feelable only after
the piano goes through the dry cycle (next winter depending on where
you live).

The other problem is the smell. Soot usually sticks to the felts.

So, you are looking at a complete rebuilding if you want the piano to
be at it's best for resale.

There are products to clean fire damaged surfaces (unsoot, unsmoke).
Do a google search for fire & smoke. You will find a lot of
information.

Make sure you don't offer too much for the piano just to be on the
safe side.

Marcel Carey, RPT
Sherbrooke, QC

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
> Behalf Of Gevaert Pierre
> Sent: August 9, 2004 1:21 PM
> To: Pianotech
> Subject: Re: I need advice
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I heared that soot could affect iron (more than the
> finish), so maybe it
> should be good to take a close look at the strings. I've
> also heared that to
> avoid damage on iron parts, the soot should be removed
> within three weeks?
>
> Otherways, I would clean the piano the same way as you suggested.
>
> Regards,
> PierreGevaert
> Belgium
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Greg Newell <gnewell@ameritech.net>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 6:48 PM
> Subject: I need advice
>
>
> > Greetings gentle list folk,
> >          I just received a phone call from a nice woman
> who wants me to
> > clean and possibly buy her 6' 7" Bosendorfer grand. The
> piano is 25 years
> > old but I do not as of yet know the model. I'm guessing
> there was only one
> > model that was this size but I don't know for sure.
> >          This unfortunate customer had a house fire in
> April that started
> > in the basement and burned through some of the floor
> joists on the first
> > floor. This happened 2 rooms away from where the piano
> sits. There is a
> > layer of dry soot on the lid but there is no finish
> damage that the owner
> > can detect. There is no damage to the walls or outlet plate covers
> > (plastic) in the same room. I wonder, 1) what to clean
> the piano with. I'm
> > thinking just a vacuum cleaner and perhaps some forced
> air once the
> > majority is removed from the vacuum. and 2) what is an
> estimation of it's
> > current fair market value. I realize that there isn't too
> much to go on
> > here but an approximation or range of numbers would be
> more helpful than
> > nothing.
> >          There was apparently no insurance rider on the
> piano so I'm sure
> > that the owner would like to get as much as possible. She
> is currently
> > looking to replace it with about a foot shorter Petrof.
> It seems that the
> > local dealer here is not interested in the Bosey. I don't
> know why. Not
> > sure if they've even seen it but probably not. Since
> there is no visible
> > damage to the piano from the fire I'm guessing that the
> two things to look
> > for are acidic soot and or glue joint failure which may
> not be seen for
> > years. Anything else?
> >          Would really love to hear your take on it's
> approximate value,
> the
> > best way to clean it and whether or not it might be worth
> while to get
> > involved. Seems odd to me that the dealer wasn't
> interested. I'm all eyes
> > .... to possible drawbacks and or previous experiences.
> Thanks in advance!
> >
> >
> > Greg Newell
> >
> >
> > P.S.  Thanks to all who posted about the Chickering
> Quarter grand. It
> > turned out to be in fairly decent shape needing
> refinishing but had scale
> > 135 which is understand to be the better of the two. I
> mentioned a street
> > value of $500 after it's actual value of "exactly what
> you can get someone
> > to pay you for it."
> > Thanks again!
> >
> > Greg Newell
> > Greg's piano Forté
> > mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> >
>
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