Glencoe Attached Garage Fire Restoration

The challenge

An attached garage fire at this Glencoe home destroyed the vehicle inside and burned through the ceiling into the roof trusses. Smoke pushed past the garage entry door and carried soot through the finished house — ceilings, cabinets, and closets across the kitchen and great room.

Our approach

We secured the openings, then took the fire area back to sound structure — roof trusses, garage walls, and burned exterior assemblies. Soot remediation ran room by room through the finished space rather than being sealed over — one team from board-up through finish carpentry.

The results

The garage came back as finished space — sealed floor, built-in storage, and new overhead doors behind rebuilt stone, siding, and a new shake gable. Inside, white and soft grey cabinetry, quartz counters, and white oak floors traded the home's dark palette for a lighter main level.

Cause of loss: fire in the attached garage. Style direction: bright, classic, open.

The fire stayed in the garage, but the smoke did not. That split is what shaped the job: one end of the house needed rebuilding from the trusses down, while the rest needed a loss most people underestimate — soot that had worked its way into cabinet interiors, closet shelves, and stair treads well beyond the rooms that looked affected. Cleaning that properly, rather than painting over it, was most of the interior work.

Two decisions carried the finished house. The garage was rebuilt as real finished space — sealed floor, built-in storage, clean walls and ceiling — instead of the bare shell it had been before the fire. And the main level came back lighter than it went in, with white and grey cabinetry and white oak floors replacing the dark palette, while the existing knotty alder window casings and doors were kept so the new work still belongs to the original house.

Before & After

Attached garage gutted by fire, with charred roof trusses, blackened walls, and a burned-out vehicle inside — Garage — where the fire started

Rebuilt garage with finished walls and ceiling, sealed floor, built-in storage, and new overhead doors after fire restoration — Garage — where the fire started

Fire-damaged garage gable with burned cedar shakes, charred soffit and fascia, and both overhead door openings sheeted off — Exterior — garage gable

Restored garage exterior with new cedar shake gable, stone veneer, siding, and white overhead doors after fire restoration — Exterior — garage gable

Knotty alder kitchen under a soot-blackened ceiling, cabinets opened for contents cleaning after smoke damage — Kitchen

Rebuilt kitchen in the same footprint with white and grey cabinetry, quartz counters, subway tile, and a corner sink under the window — Kitchen

Living room with dark wood built-ins and fireplace surround under a smoke-stained ceiling before fire restoration — Living room

The same living room rebuilt with a white fireplace surround, white built-in shelving, and an open staircase with black metal balusters — Living room

Glencoe Attached Garage Fire Restoration

The challenge

Our approach

The results

Before & After

Related