The odor of burning wood in your fireplace may be pleasant, but the smell following an-out-of control fire can be long-lasting.
As if a fire and the resulting damage isn't enough injury, the lingering after-effects of a fire can be highly destructive to your home and belongings. Soot covering all of your personal items, furnishing, floors and walls will take a great deal of work to remove, and odors will linger permanently without proper elimination. After a fire occurs, it's best to contact your insurance company and a fire-damage restoration professional as soon as possible. With professional guidance, you may decide to tackle some of the smoke and soot mitigation work yourself, but be aware that incomplete or improper mitigation can lead to permanent damage of property. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Use a heavy-duty vacuum to get rid of the layers of buildup and embedded soot from draperies, furniture and rugs. Hold the nozzle of the vacuum about an inch above the soot-covered items. Do not press on the debris. Soot looks like dust or dirt but has a very oily base that will clump and stick if pressed.
2. Cover the carpet and furniture after vacuuming the soot to keep fallout from soiling it again. Use a carpet shampooer to finish deep-cleaning the floor coverings. Repeat the shampoo process twice in order to get every last speck of dirt out and eliminate odors.
3. Use a commercial chemical sponge that contains a non-water-based cleaning solution for removing stains from soot off of walls. These sponges can be found at cleaning-supply companies. Wear rubber gloves to protect your skin when dealing with all chemical soot removers, and follow the manufacturer's directions carefully.
4. Deodorize with a commercial-grade odor counteractant, as directed by the manufacturer. Counteractants work best on odors saturated in the material of furnishings, flooring and window coverings. Treatment with a counteractant breaks down the molecules in the air to get rid of the odor. Common household deodorizers only mask the smell and are temporary. Household deodorizers may even mingle with the smoke residue and create additional odors. For generalized odor removal from residual smoke smell in the atmosphere of the house, a professional ozone treatment is necessary.
5. Consult a professional cleaner if smoke odors continue after a thorough cleaning. They can use thermal fogging to penetrate solid surfaces such as walls and woodwork to get rid of lingering smell. Among areas often overlooked are the air ducts in homes with forced-air heating or cooling systems. A duct-cleaning professional will remove all soot from deep inside the air ducts.
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