How To Clean Up After Smoke Damage

5/19/2020 (Permalink)

After a fire, contacting a cleaning professional may be the best decision you can make, since fire will affect everything in your home or business, through the flames, heat, soot, and smoke. Your structure can even be adversely affected. You’ll need the assistance of professionals who have the expertise and equipment that is needed to get your work or personal space back to normal as soon as possible. 

Unsafe Conditions. Inhaling smoke can have an immediate negative effect on you, even if it’s only for a short time, so avoiding a smoky situation is really important. With that in mind, you won’t want to enter your home or business until all the smoke is cleared from your premises. Hiring a professional fire and smoke damage restoration contractor will ensure that your property is free from the after-effects of a fire quickly and thoroughly. 

Cleaning Methods. SERVPRO specializes in restoring the contents of a home or business that has suffered from fire damage or water damage. The team will assess all your belongings carefully to determine which items can be restored to their “pre-fire” condition and will use several cleaning methods to restore your property to its original condition. These can include:

• Foam. This is used for upholstery since upholstery can shrink or the colors may bleed if water is used. 
• Dry. This method is used to get rid of light residue.
• Wet. This is a very effective cleaning method, used to remove moderate to heavy residues.
• Immersion. In this method, items are dipped into a bath of cleaning products for a thorough cleaning that removes heavy residues and overwhelming odors.  

Electronics. Electronics that have been damaged by fire and the accompanying smoke often present a serious hazard, so never turn your electronics on after they have been damaged by fire, just to be safe. Smoke residue contains acids that corrode metal and that can cause electronic failure in a device. Computers, televisions, and CD/DVD players should be assessed and cleaned by a professional before they are used again. 

If the smoke and fire damage to your home or business is such that it will need extensive restoration or cleaning, SERVPRO can organize your move-out process if that is necessary. Removing your items from the area will help any remodeling process go a lot faster, as well as l protect your items from any further potential damage. Once that is complete we can then coordinate and organize your move back into your premises so you can get back to normal.

If your home or business has suffered damage from fire, water, or mold, here at SERVPRO of Belle Meade/West Nashville we handle fire and water damage projects of all sizes, and we are mold prevention and remediation experts, too.