Smoke Damage: The Effect on Your Health and Home Structure

Fire and smoke can cause considerable damage to your home, making it uninhabitable. Reverse the damages through professional services to restore safety in your home.

Fire can erupt instantly without warning and rage on, destroying everything in its path. It can damage houses within the area it initially began. The flames and heat in the fire, along with smoke, can badly damage your home. This is because most combustible items like carpets, wood products and fabrics do not burn completely. They have considerable chemical levels that become dangerous due to burning.

Fire and smoke damage on house structures

Fire damage leads to the burning or melting of objects and materials due to heat. Smoke damage refers to physical damage resulting from smoke rather than damage from the actual fire.

Smoke permeates into HVAC vents, behind walls and within electrical sockets. It leads to smoke damage because of the acidic compounds in them that eat away at metals and penetrate wall cavities. You will find it in enclosed spaces like wall cavities and closed cabinets.

Dry-ice blasters can eliminate soot and any burned parts from surfaces in your house. Further, they can help save the structural elements, including the drywall, even if the char is a quarter-inch thick. You need to replace any foam padding below laminate flooring and insulation for the wall and attic.

Plug up all the holes and weakened structures in your house. The singed floors, roof, or walls require an immediate inspection to determine whether to repair or replace.

Fire and smoke damage on health

Smoke particles put your health and that of your family at risk because they are toxic. The toxic ingredients are carbon monoxide, soot, tar, carbon dioxide and harmful chemicals depending on what burns.   The microscopic particles are suspended in air and later settle as soot on whatever surfaces they land on. The soot and particles that settle on the clothes and furnishings severely irritate the skin. Breathing in these toxins over time will lead to health complications in the following ways.

It will affect the respiratory system making breathing will be difficult. Your sinuses and lungs suffer. It causes coughing, nausea, and sleepiness. It can lead to death resulting from increased carbon monoxide in the lungs that hinder oxygen circulation in the body. It can also cause irreversible brain damage. Is risky to family members who are asthmatic, allergic, diabetic, or pregnant.

Though smoke damage may not seem obvious, it is still a threat to your health and to that of your family. Prioritize your health safety by having AdvantaClean cleanse and decontaminate your property thoroughly.

How do you eliminate smoke odor?

The odor elimination process is extremely difficult. It involves deep cleaning combined with restoration. This a technical task that only certified professionals like AdvantaClean can manage since the smoke particles embed themselves deeply onto surfaces. You may use DIY methods for smoke & odor removal, but they will not be entirely effective. Here are some:

Baking soda

Baking soda naturally absorbs odors. Sprinkle it generously over all surfaces like furniture, upholstery, and carpets. Place baking soda in containers and leave them overnight in each area.

White or apple cider vinegar

It cuts through the smoke odor naturally. Dip a piece of cloth in the vinegar and use it to wipe down surfaces. You can also pour it into small bowls and place the bowls in different spots for several days. In case you do not like the vinegar smell, mix it with some lavender oil.

How do you eliminate smoke odor in a house?

Addressing the source of the smoke odor will help in eliminating it permanently. Avoid temporary solutions like using perfumed aerosols as they only mask the problem. Instead, focus on flushing out the smoke particles that permeate every tiny crevice in your home.

It may call for a professional service like AdvantaClean to ensure the smoke smell is dealt with once for all. There are two ways of doing this. You can clean either physically or through counteracting molecules.

Physically: this involves manual removal of smoke from hard surfaces with a dry or wet cloth. Apart from using baking soda or vinegar, which is not fully effective, you can use special alkaline cleansers. Use micro-filter equipment to vacuum clean your carpet and furniture, curtains and upholstery.

A steam machine will release steam that will melt the oils and tars surrounding the numerous smoke particles. Follow up by wiping them off using a microfiber sponge. The machine works efficiently on walls, furniture, floors, mattresses, curtains and carpets.

Chemically: it neutralizes smoke odors. Ozone generator releases activated oxygen that penetrates the areas where the smoke is and oxidizes it. This counters the odor in the smoke compounds.

Thermal foggers also work well in re-opening the pores in wood or other materials to neutralize the odor. This technology offers a permanent solution to eliminating smoke odors. Professional help will enable you to achieve this best as they readily have the equipment.

Does the smell of smoke ever go away?

The combination of heat and water from firefighting equipment penetrates the pores they open in walls and wood materials. These pores close up, trapping odors that linger for many years.

Smoke emanating from a fire may not easily disappear because it seeps through every porous material, whether paint, drapery, or granite tops. When it is combined with soot, the cleaning may be a strenuous activity that may not achieve the desired results.

At this point, it would be better to reach out to professionals like AdvantaClean for more help.

Key takeaway

Fire and smoke damage goes beyond the smell as it weakens the house structure and affects your health. Understanding how this happens is the first step toward finding effective and long-lasting solutions to get smoke smell out of the house.

Do not hesitate to reach out to a professional for more help in cleaning out the smoke from your home. Schedule an appointment today.