Smoke Damage: The Lingering Hazard after the Fire

A house fire, no matter how small or localized, has the ability to impact the whole house, with cascading after-effects that can linger around for a long time. A proper fire damage restoration service is often a multi-step process and is best left to experienced professionals who can detect and solve less obvious issues.

After the fire is extinguished, damaged items and portions of the building will obviously need to be removed and replaced. But if the fire was extinguished with water, chances are a large portion of the surrounding areas will be drenched. Fire damaged areas treated with water will need to be cleaned up quickly, before mold starts to grow, which can happen in as little as 48 hours -- in every organic surface that came in contact with water! Once mold starts to grow on surfaces like drywall, fiberglass insulation and wood, the cleanup process will be much more difficult and expensive to restore.

According to Gary Swenson, owner of United Services, a Disaster Restoration company serving the Chicago, IL area for 30 years, “One of the sneakiest and most hazardous effects of a house fire, however, is smoke damage. When your property experiences any sort of fire damage, no matter how large or small the incident is, smoke will billow and spread throughout the entire structure. The smoke will want to travel to cooler areas of the home, traveling through any pipeline or wiring crevice, staining and smothering your structure with an unpleasant odor.”

Even a very small appliance fire addressed quickly, can spread smoke to almost every room of the home. That’s why smoke and soot cleanup are hardly a DIY project, as many areas are not easy to restore - even for the handiest, most seasoned homeowner. Cleanup for smoke damage requires professional cleaning equipment and techniques to ensure that nothing is excluded. Trying to clean smoke and soot on your own, may result in more destruction and loss of valuables. In addition, DYIers tend to overlook areas such as air ducts and vents.

When smoke gets into your ducts and vents, the tiny smoke particles tend to find their way into your HVAC system may linger there for months, undetected. Breathing these particles in is a health detriment and can lead to irritation in your lungs and possible scarring of the alveoli.

A professional disaster restoration company will know how to address these problem areas, with a proper cleaning treatment and a recommended HVAC professional to inspect your system after any fire.

You take your precautions to avoid fire, and you’ll never expect your home to experience any kind of fire damage, and when it does you may not know who to call. In the middle of all the hassle and concerns, you might end up settling for the first company you can find.

It’s a good idea to always look for a reputable local disaster restoration company in advance, and have their number among all your emergency contact numbers. As it happens with most items in your disaster preparedness kit, you may never need to use them (and we sure hope you never have to), but it is good to have just in case.

Photo credit: Rainbow International Restoration