Fast, Reliable Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Across Gilroy
Fire and smoke damage restoration in Gilroy typically runs $2,800 to $18,000 depending on the size of the burn, how far smoke traveled, and whether structural framing needs replacement. Most Gilroy jobs we handle are scoped and started within 24 to 48 hours, with emergency board-up and tarping available same day. If you’re standing in a kitchen that just caught fire or your house took smoke from a grass fire off the Diablo Range foothills, call (855) 915-0646. Wade Ferris answers his own phone, and he’ll tell you straight what needs to happen next.
Why Wade’s Restoration of California Is Gilroy’s Preferred Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Company
Wade’s Restoration has been doing Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration across southern Santa Clara County since 2007, and we know Gilroy’s houses the way you know your own street. The stucco tract homes off Santa Teresa Boulevard, the old Craftsman places near downtown, the ranch homes stretched along Hecker Pass Highway. We’ve worked in all of them.
What sets us apart in Gilroy isn’t a sales pitch. It’s that Wade Ferris puts his name on the truck, publishes his license number, and answers his own phone at 2 a.m. when a smoke alarm has turned into something worse. Ask anyone on your street about the last restoration crew that showed up here. They’ll tell you who actually came back when the job wasn’t right.
We work directly with your insurance adjuster, so you’re never the one relaying scope details between two sides. You get photo documentation of every stage, a written scope before work starts, and the 90-Day Done Right Promise stamped on every fire restoration contract. If it’s not done right, Wade makes it right. That’s not marketing language. That’s a man who plans to run into you again at the Garlic Festival.
Our Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Services in Gilroy
Not every fire restoration job in Gilroy looks the same. A grease fire in a 2005 stucco home off Mantelli Drive is a different animal from a slow-smoldering electrical fire in a 1920s Craftsman near downtown. Here’s what we actually do.
Fire Damage Cleanup
We remove charred materials, damaged drywall, ruined insulation, and anything else the fire touched. In Gilroy’s older homes, that often means working around original lath-and-plaster construction rather than modern drywall, which changes how we cut, demo, and rebuild. The goal is always the same: remove every burned surface so smoke and soot have nothing left to cling to.
Smoke & Soot Removal
Smoke moves through a house the way water does: it follows air paths you can’t see. Here’s the Gilroy-specific problem. Those summer days when the thermostat hits 100°F and the stucco bakes in the sun? UV damage opens hairline cracks in roofing membranes and exterior walls. Come fire season, smoke and soot push through those hidden pathways and settle inside wall cavities, behind baseboards, and into ceiling voids you’d never think to check. We use Dri-Eaz negative air machines and Phoenix air scrubbers to pull contaminated air out and filter it properly, not just wipe down surfaces and call it done.
Odor Removal & Deodorization
Smoke odor is stubborn, especially in Gilroy homes built before 2005 or framed with original plaster walls. Porous plaster absorbs smoke deep. Surface deodorizers won’t touch it. We use thermal fogging, ozone treatment where appropriate, and hydroxyl generators to neutralize odor at the source. For homes near Uvas Creek, there’s an added wrinkle: seasonal groundwater rise creates a musty smell that homeowners mistake for lingering smoke odor. We check for hydrostatic pressure before we call a deodorization job finished, because if the subfloor is wicking moisture, no amount of fogging fixes it.
Contents Cleaning & Pack-Out
Fire doesn’t just damage walls. It gets into furniture, clothing, dishes, books, everything you own. We inventory, pack out, clean, and restore salvageable contents off-site, then bring them back when your home is ready. For Gilroy seniors and veterans, the 10% discount applies to contents cleaning too. We don’t think the hardest-hit people in our community should pay full freight for getting their lives back.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Gilroy
We work on homes of every era in Gilroy, and we stock parts and materials compatible with the brands local builders actually used. Phoenix air scrubbers run on every fire job. Dri-Eaz dehumidifiers and negative air machines handle moisture and particulate control. Our IICRC certification and RIA affiliation mean the equipment and the people running it meet the industry’s highest standard. When a 1990s tract home off Santa Teresa needs structural fire repair, we’re not guessing at what the original framing looked like. We’ve repaired enough of them to know.
Common Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Problems We See in Gilroy Homes
- Surface soot wiped but odor comes back weeks later. This is the single most common complaint we hear in Gilroy’s 1990s and 2000s stucco tract homes. Soot gets into ceiling cavities and wall voids through UV-damaged roof membranes, and surface cleaning never reaches it. The fix requires negative air pressure and cavity inspection, not another coat of paint.
- Repeated musty odors near Uvas Creek misdiagnosed as smoke. Properties along the Uvas Creek corridor, especially in the 95020 ZIP west of US-101, sit on a flood plain with seasonal groundwater rise. Homeowners and scoping techs alike mistake that moisture smell for smoke damage after a fire. We check hydrostatic pressure before deodorizing, because if water is wicking through the slab, the “smoke” smell returns every winter.
- Original plaster walls absorbing smoke in historic downtown homes. Early-20th-century Craftsman and Victorian houses around downtown Gilroy have plaster walls that are beautiful and brutally porous. Smoke penetrates deep, and without sealing the plaster before deodorizing, odor bleeds back out in three to six weeks. You can’t just fog and go on these houses.
- Balloon framing complicating structural repair. Older Gilroy homes built before the 1940s often use balloon framing: continuous stud channels running from foundation to attic with no fire blocking. A small fire can travel upward fast through those channels. Structural repair means opening walls top to bottom, not just patching the burn site.
Pricing for Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Gilroy, CA
What you’ll pay depends on the size of the fire and how far smoke traveled, but here are honest ranges for Gilroy’s market. Light smoke cleanup in a couple rooms: $2,800 to $5,500. Full smoke and soot removal after a kitchen fire with odor treatment: $6,000 to $12,000. Structural fire repair with framing replacement and drywall rebuild: $12,000 to $18,000 or more depending on square footage and whether original materials need matching. Contents cleaning and pack-out typically adds $2,000 to $6,000.
What changes the price: whether you’re in a 2005 stucco home (easier scoping) or a 1920s Craftsman near downtown (harder scoping, plaster work, balloon framing), how many rooms smoke reached through the HVAC system, and whether the fire happened during Gilroy’s hot season when UV-damaged roofs have opened pathways into the structure. We provide a free, written estimate before any work starts. Call (855) 915-0646 and Wade will walk the property with you. No charge for that. And if another company already wrote you an estimate, bring it. We’ll give a free second opinion on it.
We Also Serve Cities Near Gilroy
Our crews cover Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Gilroy plus the surrounding communities: San Martin, Morgan Hill, Watsonville, and Interlaken. Same owner-operated service, same 90-Day Done Right Promise, same live person answering the phone when you call. If you’re within our county, there’s no trip charge. Not a promo. Just how Wade runs it.
Serving Gilroy, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Gilroy 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 - Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Gilroy
Gilroy’s summer heat accelerates UV damage to roofing membranes and stucco, creating hairline openings that let smoke and soot penetrate wall cavities and ceiling voids during a fire. In pre-2005 homes, those pathways are often wider and more numerous because original roofing and window seals have hit the 20 to 30 year failure threshold. That means our restoration scope has to include cavity inspection with negative air and thermal imaging, not just surface cleaning. If you suspect smoke got into your walls during a wildfire, call (855) 915-0646 and we’ll scope it properly.
Homes near Uvas Creek sit on a flood plain, and seasonal groundwater rise wicks moisture through slabs and subfloors. That moisture creates a musty odor homeowners mistake for lingering smoke, and if the hydrostatic pressure is never addressed, the smell returns every winter no matter how many deodorization treatments you do. We check for groundwater intrusion before we deodorize, because the fix for smoke odor won’t hold if water is still moving through the structure. This pattern shows up repeatedly on properties along and west of US-101 in the 95020 ZIP.
Yes. We restore original plaster whenever it’s structurally sound. The process starts with sealing the plaster to lock in embedded smoke particles, then deodorizing with thermal fogging or hydroxyl treatment, then refinishing with materials matched to the home’s era. On a 1920s Craftsman near downtown Gilroy, our crew handled a kitchen fire that burned through lath-and-plaster walls, and we preserved the historic trim while rebuilding only what had to be replaced. We’d rather spend two extra days on a plaster wall than rip out something that’s been standing for a hundred years.
Wiping down visible soot and calling it good. Soot in those homes hides in ceiling cavities above the kitchen, inside wall voids, and in the HVAC ducts, and surface cleaning never reaches it. Within three to six weeks, the smoke smell returns and by then the damage has set in deeper. The right move after a kitchen fire is to get a negative air machine running immediately, scope every cavity the smoke could have reached, and document everything for your insurance claim. Call us at (855) 915-0646 and we’ll start with a free assessment before anything gets wiped down.
Yes. Gilroy’s summer temperatures are extreme enough that sealing a fire-damaged home without ventilation actually accelerates secondary damage: trapped heat and moisture push smoke deeper into materials and can delaminate drywall. We board up for security while leaving controlled ventilation paths, and we use moisture and temperature monitoring throughout the process. In wildfire season when ember risk is high, we also verify the tarping and board-up won’t fail in wind events off the Diablo Range. It’s not a one-size-fits-all job here, and we treat every board-up in Gilroy like what it is: the first step in a restoration that has to survive until reconstruction starts.
Dealing with fire or smoke damage in Gilroy? Call (855) 915-0646 right now. Wade Ferris will answer, talk you through what needs to happen, and get a crew headed your way. Free estimate. Written scope before work starts. 90-Day Done Right Promise on every job. No runaround.
Written by Wade Ferris, Owner at Wade’s Restoration of California, providing Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Gilroy since 2007.