Dealing with Smoke Damage after a Fire

When smoke damage affects your

home, you have to understand how

you are going to get rid of it

effectively. There are many people

that do not understand that there is a

specific process that they need to go

through to ensure that the smoke

damage is not going to be

permanent.

Airing Out Your Home

First, you should understand how

you are going to get your home

ventilated. Ventilating your home is necessary and you want to make sure that you are opening

all of your windows and doors so you can get as much fresh air through your home as possible.

You may even want to turn on some fans in the door ways or in the windows. This way, you can

be sure that the fresh air is being pushed into your home and forced to circulate while pushing

the old air, which smells like smoke, out of your home.

After you have ensured that you are ventilating the area as much as possible, you will then want

to vacuum all of the soot that you can see. Use a nozzle attachment to ensure that you are going

to be able to lightly suck up the soot, rather than pressing it into the carpet or other material.

When you are dealing with soot you should not be pressing

against the material that you are cleaning. Often times, rather

than being able to suck up the soot the vacuum will shove the

soot farther into the carpet, making it even more difficult to get

all of the soot out of the ground.

Whatever you can take to a dry cleaner, gather up in a big bag

and head over to the dry cleaner as soon as possible. This

means that you will want to take bedspreads, curtains, clothing

or even certain types of rugs or throws that you are using to

decorate your home.

Tips on Cleaning Everything

After you have everything out that can be dry cleaned, you will

then want to wash all of the clothes that you can in the washing

machine. Follow the care instructions on the label to ensure that you are cleaning the clothes

properly and taking care of them the best that you can.

When you are working on removing the smoke odor, it may take up to five washes before you

cannot smell the smoke. Wash the clothes with liquid detergent and make sure that you are

patient as you are washing the clothes multiple times to get the smell out.

If you have wood or tile floors throughout your home, use a mop that is cotton or even cotton

clothes to clean it. You will want to go over the tile with the vacuum to ensure that you have all

of the soot up off the floor that you can remove.

Smoke damage can be a hassle and it often takes a long time to recover from. Prepare your

home to ensure that you do not have to deal with a fire or even with the smoke damage that

comes from the fire.

Photo Credit: Bcostin, Wili_Hybrid