Cleaning soot and removing smoke odours from your fire-damaged home is a messy business and done wrong it can be a very expensive one also. At Capital Facility Services we specialise in fire damage cleaning and restoration across Melbourne and would like to share with you some helpful tips on what to do, and what not to do if your property is affected by fire or smoke damage.
- The most important thing to do is to Act fast! Even a small area of what looks like manageable fire damage can result in extensive damage over time, increasing restoration time and cost. This is because soot residue is acidic in nature and its damage intensifies over time across different surfaces. Has an IICRC certified Fire and Smoke Restoration Technician assess your fire damaged property immediately? They can advise you on what to do and the impacts of delaying the restoration process. At Capital Facility Services we are available 24/7 to assess the impact of fire damage and make safe your property. Call us anytime on 1300 554 418
- Make sure you do not enter any fire-damaged zone without a face mask, as the smoke odour and fire damage residue may be toxic to your health.
- Open all doors and windows to improve the ventilation in the fire affected zones.
- If you attempt to do any cleaning of the soot yourself make sure you start at the top and you move your way down. Clean ceilings first, then walls and finally floors. Using water to clean soot could make it more difficult to clean the soot using the correct techniques. A certified Fire Damage Restorer uses special cleaning products to remove the soot and is familiar with the best cleaning techniques across different surfaces
- Remove salvageable content quickly out of the fire zone, so that you limit the `amount of smoke absorbed. The salvageable content should be cleaned immediately to limit the damage, with time the acidic nature of soot and fire residues will cause an increased amount of damage across different surfaces in your property. At Capital Facility Services we can remove your salvageable content, have it cleaned, stored and returned to you once the restoration process has been completed.
- Do not use standard vacuum cleaners to vacuum your floors and upholstery. If you use a vacuum cleaner ensure it has a high-efficiency filter to avoid releasing back into the air the soot you vacuum.
- Some fabrics can be washed to remove smoke smells and soot. You should use an alkaline cleaner so that the acidic soot and smoke odours are neutralised. There are specialised dry cleaning companies for fire damage cleaning, at it may be best to use their services for expensive and delicate fabrics. At Capital Facility Services we can manage your dry cleaning.
- Removing the smell of smoke from your fire-damaged home is difficult and it can linger for very long periods unless it is killed by an expert. At Capital Facility Services we can kill the smell of smoke using our specialised fogging treatments.
- If there is structural damage to your home as an outcome of the fire do not attempt to fix it yourself, have it assessed by an expert before any rebuilding work commences.
