If you ever have a fire in your home, you'll be faced with a huge cleanup process. Fire produces soot, which is a fine black substance that floats through your home and covers nearly everything if the fire is large enough. Soot is acidic and damaging, so it has to be removed. Plus, soot and smoke produce odors that last long after the fire damage has been restored.
Smoke wafts all over your home and through your HVAC ducts, and getting rid of the odor is challenging. If your home is also wet due to water being used to douse the fire, you may also have to combat musty odors. You'll probably need a fire deodorization professional to eliminate smoke and fire odors. Here's how the process works.
Remove Affected Materials
You may need to throw out things that are burned or wet. Furniture and other belongings you want to save may be taken to an off-site facility to have cleaned and deodorized. By eliminating ruined items, the number of things that have to be cleaned is reduced so it's easier to get rid of fire odors.
Ventilate The Area
In addition to smoke and fire odors, the odors and chemicals in the air vary according to the materials that were burning. It's also important to ventilate the area as best as possible to help reduce some of the odor and get rid of toxic fumes. Anyone working on the fire cleanup and deodorization needs to wear ventilation equipment so they can breathe safely.
Clean All Surfaces
All surfaces in the affected area and surfaces in other rooms with smoke and soot damage need to be cleaned to wash away soot, smoke, and chemicals released in the fire. The crew uses cleaning products made for fire cleanup and targeted toward the type of odors present.
You may also need to have the HVAC ducts and your air handler cleaned and deodorized since smoke and soot may be inside and contributing to odors.
Use Deodorizing Machines
The fire deodorization company may set up machines to pull odors from the air and building materials. These might be air purifiers and ozone machines. Ozone machines can only be used when your home is vacant, so the contractor may set them up and let them run for a couple of days while you're elsewhere.
These machines neutralize odors rather than cover them up. They can be effective at clearing soot and smoke odors so they go away and don't come back. Fire deodorization is a complex job and has to be done carefully or odors may be released periodically for a long time and be a constant reminder of your fire.
Learn more about how fire deodorization can help your situation.
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