Cleaning Up Smoke Damage After House Fire

9/30/2019 (Permalink)

Smoke damage cleanup after a house fire in Phoenix may seem like a no-brainer process, but cleaning smoke damage from anything is a bit more challenging than most think. The stubborn smell alone that seeps deep into all the different surfaces found throughout the house is very tough to completely remove and can make you nauseated and left with a headache or other health issues. SERVPRO of Phoenix has a lot of experience in this, so we would like to share our methods to cleaning up smoke damage after a house fire.

Tips on Cleaning Smoke Damage

After a house fire, especially in Phoenix with the warmer temperatures, the odor left by the fire never goes away entirely. Don’t bother to reach for the aerosols, air fresheners, and perfumes, they will only dilute the odor, but they are not capable of removing it completely. Before starting the smoke damage cleanup and restoration process, stop the soot from spreading by shutting off the A/C and opening all doors and windows to allow the fresh air to flush out the whole house. Set up an air purifier and let it run throughout the entire process to protect you from inhaling anything you’re not supposed to.

If you haven’t already reached out to your local fire cleanup company, like SERVPRO of Phoenix, then give us a call at 480-503-2090 and setup an appointment to address your needs. A good fire repair company should have well-trained and IICRC-certified techs that have a lot of experience. If you’re doing it yourself then you may want use a respirator during the process to protect your lungs from the negative effects of breathing in the soot.

Tips on Smoke Damage Cleanup

To begin, go through the house and gently dust off and vacuum any loose soot left behind after the house fire. Next, for any walls and other hard surfaces, you’ll need a dry-cleaning sponge (chemical sponge). This process is a critical part in the cleanup process because the special chemicals within the sponge are able to remove the smoke and soot stains from walls and other hard surfaces. Using single strokes in one direction, gently wipe the surface with a clean side of the sponge. The trick here is that when you have soiled a side of the sponge, grab your scissors and cut off a slice to reveal a new fresh and clean side to the sponge. Don’t ever use water or any soot cleaner prior to using the sponge as that will spread the soot all around making it impossible to clean it up with the chemicals in the sponge. 

Using white vinegar turns out to be a very effective smoke damage cleanup solvent. In fact, we recommend placing bowls of the white vinegar in all the rooms that were affected by the fire and leave them sitting in there for several days. Baking soda also has the same effect, but you may also use a commercial soot/smoke remover, paint thinner, some rubbing alcohol or a high powered degreaser like Benefect Botanical Atomic Degreaser. Soak a rag in the solution and wipe all hard surfaces, even if they don’t look like they were affected by the fire. The odorous particles are invisible and attach themselves to everything.

Next, add 1 to 3 teaspoons of a mild degeaser or dish soap to a gallon of water.and using the same motions as with the dry-cleaning sponge, wipe down all those same hard surfaces.It may be necessary to repeat these cleaning steps if it was a large fire that produced a lot of smoke. Always keep rinsing the rag or sponge so that you don’t spread the soot and smoke damage. Also, keep cycling through a new bucket of the solution once it turns a dark color. Then go over everything again with just a clean cloth soaked in nothing but clean water.

Then, you should make sure that the HVAC system gets new filters put in to replace the ones that were affected by the fire..We highly recommend having the HVAC system thoroughly cleaned by a professional. There are times that even after completing all these steps properly, the odorous smell is still there. That’s when you use an ozone generator, which you can rent, buy or borrow, but an ozone generator is very effective in removing the odor left behind after a fire in your home. Or you can again, have a fire repair company come out with the ozone generators to complete this process for you.

Call the Smoke Damage Cleanup Experts

Many people find that the process to completely eliminate the smoke odor after a house fire is just too time consuming and tedious. SERVPRO of Phoenix can help and do it all with their state of the art equipment an advance techniques, we get it done right the first time.Our highly skilled techs are sympathetic to the tragedy of a house fire and understand that communicating effectively with you is important. We also work with your insurance company.