Take a Deep Breath and Say Goodbye to Smoke Damage

Weeks after suffering a devastating fire in your house, you now get ready to move back into your newly restored home. Everything looks great - the walls are clean, the restored pieces of furniture look as if they are brand new, the floors and ceilings seem as though they have not been damaged at all. You thought you have already removed all traces of the fire that your home suffered, until you smell something weird. Something like smoke.

This would not have happened in the first place if you hired a reputable fire damage restoration company. But obviously, they did not pay so much attention to the twin of fire damage-smoke damage.

Smoke damage happens when the fire-damaged house has not been exposed to moving air, thereby locking in all the odors caused by the fire and the chemicals used to extinguish the fire. The house then absorbs this unpleasant smell, leaving you with a lingering remembrance of the fire that wrecked havoc to your house.

Therefore, to avoid unwanted smoke damage, expose your house to the open, moving air as soon as possible after the fire. Open windows and doors to ensure proper ventilation. You can also install a fan if you can to promote better air circulation. Now, if your items are damaged by water as well, make use of a dehumidifier. Dry these wet items as soon as possible, using a fan or a dehumidifier. Mold and mildew may develop if your items are not dried properly.

If there are brass and copper items in your home, remove them from the site of the fire and clean them using the appropriate brass or copper cleaner. 24 hours are all it takes for smoke to damage these materials beyond repair.

While restorations and repairs are ongoing, you must remove all undamaged items from your house. If you cannot do this, covering them with plastic will do.

What is really annoying with smoke damage is that the odor may cling to your clothes, furniture, draperies, and carpets unless they are deodorized. Most of the time fire damage restoration professionals are needed for the deodorization process. Items damaged by smoke must be deodorized first before cleaned.

You may make use of counteractants to remove smoke damage. Counteractants are chemicals that break up smoke molecules, thereby eliminating unpleasant odors. These counteractants may be applied by professionals to different items in your house, such as the furniture, draperies, and carpets. For your clothes, you need to have them dry-cleaned so that they can undergo ozone treatment. It has the same working principle as those of counteractants.

There are also different ways of deodorizing your home. The first one is through the wet-fogging method, which is used for houses that have suffered both fire and water damage. Choose this method if there is only a light smoke damage. Otherwise, make use of other available deodorizing techniques.

Other techniques include the dry-fogging method, which leaves no damaging residue; crystals method, which are crystals strategically placed in different areas of the house to absorb odor; and the ozone restoration method; perfect for eliminating odor once and for all. In fact, the ozone restoration method is the most widely-used smoke damage removal technique, since it does not just mask the odor - it eliminates the smell.

Smoke damage must not be taken lightly, unless you want to suffer the lingering consequences.

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