Holy Smoke!!!

10/17/2017 (Permalink)

Occasionally, you may have smoke damage in your home that seems harmless.  Some examples of these incidents are burning a dinner, “puff-backs” from a furnace, smoke from a candle or lamp, or even a small fire from an appliance that you are to put out quickly with an extinguisher…but what about the smoke?  Experienced fire restoration professionals know that areas seemingly unaffected by fire damage are still a danger to homeowners. Smoke can penetrate within cavities of the structure, causing hidden damage and odor.  Smoke can coat your entire home with soot and leave toxic residues that can act as an irritant if not properly cleaned and can cause health issues.  Now, before I go further, I would like to point out that planning ahead to prevent fires in the home is the best thing you can do.

Here are some things you may not know about smoke: 

• Hot smoke migrates to cooler areas and upper levels of a structure.
•  Smoke flows around plumbing systems, using holes around pipes and your HVAC duct work to go from floor to floor and throughout your home.
• There are several types of smoke which affect how it acts and determines what type of cleaning process is required.

Types of smoke include:

• Wet smoke – results from smoldering fires with low heat.  Residues are sticky, smeary and with pungent odors.  Smoke webs can be difficult to clean.
• Dry Smoke – results from fast burning fires at high temperatures. Residues are often dry, powdery, small, non-smeary smoke particles.
• Protein Smoke – here’s your burning chicken. Virtually invisible residues that discolor paints and varnishes.  Extreme pungent odor.
• Fuel-Oil Soot Smoke – this is a result of a furnace malfunction (commonly known as a “puff-back”)

When having someone clean up smoke damage in your home, it’s important that they perform an inspection and do pretesting.  A fire damage restoration professional should determine the extent of the smoke and fire damage, make sure unaffected areas are protected, determine which materials can be restored and which need to be replaced, and the most effective cleaning methods.  These steps also allow the focus to be on saving precious items and keepsakes for you.