Why Cleaning up Smoke Damage is Difficult

A major problem during restoration after a fire accident is the smoke and its effects on the building. A structure after fire damage will have a pungent smell, and that is because of all the smoke that has collected in it.

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Even after airing out the entire building, there still might be a smoke smell, and that is because the smoke has permeated into various objects, such as the walls and furniture. Dealing with the visual damages due to smoke can be hard enough, but without getting rid of the smell, it cannot be said that smoke damage clean-up has been done.

There are many ways to get your home back to normal after a fire accident, but most of them involve specific tools and expertise that are not available to the public. Therefore, it is essential to consult professional services for restoration.

Fire can cause a lot of damage, and aside from the burning of household items, it also produces a lot of smoke and soot. The smoke and soot can cause many respiratory problems if not dealt with properly. There are certain steps that one can follow to mitigate the damage.

• Airing of the house: Ventilation of the house after a fire accident is the first step after it is safe to enter the structure again. There are a lot of soot particles and smoke that is still trapped inside, and require some opening to blow away. Ventilation has to be provided so that the soot and smoke do not ingrain into the furniture or walls causing difficulty during further restoration process.
• Home remedies: For smoke smell, one can use baking soda to get rid of the smell from fabric and soft surfaces. However, this method does not apply to hard surfaces such as walls. First, take some baking soda and sprinkle it on the surface. Make sure to massage the powder into the fabric and then let it sit overnight. Vacuuming it the next day will take out the smell from the fabric. This method can also be used for carpets and rugs.
• Dish Soap: Some dish soaps have strong chemicals that are manufactured to deal with smell. Small plastic items can be cleaned with dish soap to get rid of smoke smell. Dish soap is effective for items such as toys, light fixtures, windowpanes, etc.

Though these things can be done to reduce the damage, they cannot help in completely removing the smell and damage done by smoke. For that, it is necessary to call for a professional company’s assistance.

Dealing with smoke is very difficult, as is fire, everything in the house expands due to heat. During expansion, there are pores in objects that also expand. Smoke and soot make their way into those enlarged pores and settle there. After the fire has died down, and the house returns to normal temperature, the pores return to their normal sizes and traps the smoke and soot within them.

Outward cleaning of smoke will remove a part of the visible residue of smoke and soot, but the particles trapped inside will keep the smell in the room even after cleaning. A proper smoke damage clean up involves dealing with the smoke that is trapped in various household items that were exposed to smoke and soot.

Smoke and soot often cause widespread damage in the building and hence require an extensive clean-up process. This involves looking for damage in unsteady locations of the structure, whose integrity has been compromised due to fire. This is a major health hazard for common people, increasing the risk and level of danger of try to restore smoke damage.

There have been many developments in dealing with damage due to smoke and soot. Therefore, traditional soap and brush clean-up will not be the best service. You should opt to get a professional smoke damage clean up company to restore a damaged structure.