Smoke Damage – How It Affects Your Home or Office
Smoke damage from a fire is a serious issue and has negative consequences for your home or business. Smoke permeates the entire building, entering every little crevice, including insulation, wallboard and carpet. It chars the walls and covers everything, and leaves an extremely unpleasant odor. The longer the smoke and odor lingers, the more it saturates walls, carpets and furniture, and the harder it is to eliminate.
Knowing the effects of smoke damage on your building can help prepare you to handle the situation more effectively. If the fire was from natural substances, like paper and wood, the smoke damage will be evident in a gray or black residue which is fairly simple to remove using a dry sponge or vacuum cleaner, but smoke from synthetic materials will leave behind an oily residue that is dangerous if inhaled and difficult to remove.
When it’s time to start the clean-up for smoke damage, if you plan to do it yourself, you should keep in mind the importance of protecting yourself. At all times wear gloves, eye protection, a face mask and a respirator to keep from inhaling smoke particles and to prevent the smoke residue from getting on your skin.
Start with opening up windows and doors in order to ventilate the building as quickly as possible. Turn off the A/C because it will spread the smoke damage even further. To help draw out the smoke, use industrial fans, pointing them towards the windows and doors. Then vacuum the soot and ash with a shop vac, holding the nozzle just above the soot. To avoid stains, don’t press down on the nozzle. Keep it just slightly above the surface of the soot.
You will have to discard most of the smoke damaged items in the dwelling. Start at the top of the structure and work down to the bottom, removing unsalvageable furniture, draperies, rugs and anything else that is porous that the smoke damage has affected. If you want to save the carpets and window coverings, you can try treating them with chemical products engineered for that purpose that will also help eliminate the odor. Clothing, bedding and towels can be washed or dry-cleaned. All hard surfaces can be wiped down – kitchen cabinets, woodwork, appliances, non-porous furniture, walls and ceilings. First wipe away the soot with a dry chemical sponge, then using a vinegar spray, rub away the stubborn stains. Sometimes a solvent such as paint thinner will be required – be sure to open windows for ventilation.
Next, every other item that suffered smoke damage will have to be cleaned or replaced – even the light bulbs – they can be washed, just make sure you dry them well before reinstalling them. Toss out all food that has not been sealed in air-tight containers, and then replace the HVAC filters.
If you find that it is all a bit too overwhelming to tackle cleaning up on your own, then of course you should call the professionals, especially if the smoke damage was extensive. AAS Restoration Technicians are experts at fire remediation and smoke damage recovery. Call us at (816) 861-1550 and we will provide you with options for clean up for smoke damage in your Kansas City metro home or office. You may also visit our website at: https://www.aasrestoration.com/.
