Insurance Restoration Specialists, Inc. (IRS) recently received a call from the Somerset County Parks Comission (SCPC) to respond to and restore a Baker–Duderstadt Farm building that had been vandalized. Located in Warren, New Jersey the farm and it’s buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of the buildings date from mid 19th-century and feature a distinct form of building known as “half-timber”.

The Damage

Each time IRS is called to restore something of historical significance every effort is made to bring the property back to it’s original state. Unfortunately, in this case some of the vandalized parts of the wooden frame and flooring were completely destroyed and thrown from the building.

In addition to the destruction of building materials vandals also spray-painted many interior sections of the barn with graffiti.

The Restoration Process

The first step was to remove anything that was deemed unsalvageable. IRS technicians expertly removed the too-damaged pieces, loose debris and any spray painted loose wood while being careful to not further damage the historic barn. The unauthorized trespassers destroyed so much property IRS filled an entire dumpster with it.

Once the debris had been cleared, IRS remediated the vandalized interior of the barn by thoroughly covering the graffiti and spray paint with a paint designed to blend in with the previous look and feel of the building.

Insurance Restoration Specialists, Inc. (IRS) is a premier provider of disaster recovery mitigation, environmental remediation, biohazard emergency response and HVAC inspection and cleaning in the New Jersey-Philadelphia-New York City area. IRS is certified by NADCA and have Certified Air Systems Cleaning Technicians and a Certified Ventilation System Inspector on staff. Services include mold removal,water damage restoration, fire damage restoration, flood damage cleanup, smoke damage remediation, and biohazard remediation.