ServiceMaster Restore Expert on Restoring Notre Dame
While much of the world—and especially the citizens of Paris—watched La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris burn earlier this week, experts at ServiceMaster Restore couldn’t help but think ahead to the recovery and rebuilding.
The brand has restored hundreds of warehouses, airplane hangars, ships, underground storage facilities, and regular homes and businesses after fire or water damage or both. Church restoration is not new to ServiceMaster Restore. The brand works with insurance companies, such as Church Mutual, Catholic Mutual and Guide One, which specialize in protecting religious buildings.
Notre Dame, however, is more than a church. It is an historic landmark and a symbol for the people France and the city of Paris.
“The cathedral is a 67,000-square-foot building with 114-foot ceilings,” said Pete Duncanson, director of commercial operations for ServiceMaster Restore. Duncanson has been in the restoration business for more than 34 years and is an internationally recognized expert in all areas of mitigation and restoration.
“Not only is there damage from the fire,” he said, “millions of gallons of water from efforts to contain the fire poured through the top of the building. In addition to managing the effects of the fire, the water also must be considered in all plans to clean and restore the cathedral.”
The first step will be protecting the interior of the cathedral from the elements with a temporary roof, Duncanson said.
Next comes assessing the condition of the building: Is it safe? Is the fire completely out? Are any overhead structures in danger of falling (for example, the 13-ton bell in the south tower)? Is the floor sound? Are harmful gasses being emitted from any damaged materials?
“For example,” said Duncanson, “as wood burns, it produces an acidic gas that causes corrosion or pitting to precious metals, stone and marble. That begins to happen within the first 24 hours.” To prevent further damage, Duncanson said all surfaces must be cleaned right away or a thin coat of oil applied to act as a barrier to the gas. “Fortunately,” he said, “all of the hands that have touched the walls, the backs of the pews and other surfaces for more than 800 years have added to that protective layer of oils.”
Duncanson also said that soot – wood particles that are not completely burned – is abrasive and cannot easily be wiped away without damaging what it touches. “It is almost like a very fine sand paper,” said Duncanson,” and every building within miles of the cathedral probably has a thin dusting of soot.”
Estimating that the cleaning could take up to a year, Duncanson and other experts agree that it will take years to rebuild the Cathedral of Notre-Dame to her former glory.