cleaning up after a natural disaster

Although a house fire can cause a significant amount of damage, you may not be prepared for the residual damage caused by smoke. Smoke can travel throughout your entire house, penetrating surfaces and leaving that persistent smoky smell behind. If your home has recently been affected by a fire, you may still be struggling with smoke damage. In addition to working with a professional smoke damage restoration company, here are some tips to help you remove the smoke residue from your home.

Soft Surface Cleaning

Soft surfaces include things like your clothing and draperies. They are probably the easiest materials to treat, because you can wash them. Gather all of the fabrics that are safe to machine wash and soak them in a large tub of water for several hours or overnight. Then, put them through the standard wash cycle. It may take several washes, but eventually the smoke smell will disappear. Take your dry-clean-only fabrics to your local dry cleaner and explain that they were exposed to household fire smoke.

Carpet Treatment

Your carpets can benefit from a thorough vacuum, but don't use a vacuum cleaner with a brush on it – that will just work the smoke residue deeper into the fibers. Once you've vacuumed, you'll need to invest in an extraction carpet cleaner. You can rent one, or you can hire a professional smoke damage remediation company to handle this part, because they'll have the equipment to do it.

Wall Scrubbing

Smoke odor can penetrate your walls, leaving a lingering odor and particles in the air. Start by wiping all of the walls with a dry chemical sponge. This will eliminate any soot that was left behind. Then, treat the wall with a cleaner used to eliminate smoke. You can get one from your local fire damage remediation company. Once the walls are clean, you'll want to coat them with a fresh layer of primer and a new coat of paint.

Furniture Care

The smoke from a fire can penetrate deep into your furniture's material, leaving lingering smoke odor for a long time, even after you've cleaned the surface of the furniture. Odor removal sprays and fabric refreshing products may help to mask the smell temporarily, but you'll need to have the furniture cleaned by a remediation company or an upholstery cleaner in order to eliminate the smoke smell completely.

With the tips presented here and the help of a smoke and fire damage specialist like Serclean Inc, you can eliminate the smoke residue in your home.