If you’ve ever had a fire in your home or business, you know how devastating it can be.
Not only can they destroy your possessions and the integral structure of a building, but they can also be life-threatening.
Once the initial clear-up has been complete, there are many supplementary hazards to contend with: water damage , soot and ash staining, smoke damage and smoke odours.
Strong Smoke Odours
Once it has been deemed safe to return to a building following a fire, professionals will likely be required to help repair a lot of the damage caused.
One area that can often be overlooked is the issue concerning fire smoke odours.
Left untreated, the smell can remain indefinitely.
At Vinci Response, we recommend employing professional services to help eradicate lingering smells.
But before calling the experts, there are a few things you can do to help eliminate the smoke smell after a fire in your business or home.
Here are our top tips.
Air the Premises
This is something you would probably do instinctively.
If you open all the doors and windows in a building, you can increase ventilation by allowing fresh air inside.
If you have any electric fans, placing them throughout the building would be a good idea for added effect.
Positive Pressure
While opening doors and windows to help ventilate your property is a good idea, you should also consider employing some ‘positive pressure’ to help eradicate particularly pervasive smoke odours.
This works by causing the air pressure in your building to exceed the pressure outside, forcing the air out into the open.
The best way to do this would be to:
- Open the entrance door to your building and set up a large fan facing inwards;
- Focus on one room at a time. Open its door (keeping all other doors and windows shut) and turn the fan on high speed;
- After around 15 minutes, close that room’s door and open another room’s;
- you just need to repeat the process until all the rooms have been aired.
Clean Surfaces & Windows
Following a fire, smoke particles will settle on everything. These particles will bring smoke odours, so cleaning all hard surfaces and windows is vital.
If you use a professional service, technicians can use various solutions to help eradicate all traces of the particles. But if you want to try and clean the areas yourself, a general mixture of washing up liquid, white vinegar, and warm water will suffice for most surfaces.
Clean Carpets & Upholstery
Soft furnishings such as sofas, armchairs and carpets can harbour smoke smells following a fire.
The particles get embedded deep into the upholstery ad carpet fibres, making them particularly difficult to clean effectively.
You could use many household items to help eradicate the smoke odour. Baking soda can be particularly effective. Just sprinkle some on the affected surfaces and leave for several hours before vacuuming away.
Steam cleaning can also be very effective, but you must be careful when handling delicate materials, such as leather or silk.
Clean the HVAC system
If you have an HVAC system at home or in the workplace, it’s a good idea to change the air conditioning filters following a fire.
Smoke can permeate ductwork and compromise the air quality in the building.
You should also get the system inspected to ensure it hasn’t sustained any damage.
Fire Smoke Odour Removal Service
We’ve talked about some tips that you can try yourselves to eradicate strong smoke odours.
But if you’re still struggling with smoke smells following a fire, some items may have to be replaced.
We would also stress that if any of your items are covered in soot, you should not attempt to clean them yourself. You could end up causing more harm than good.
If you would like to find out how Vinci Response can help you remediate a property following a fire, tap on the link below to find out more about services:
You can contact our expert team by calling 0808 506 3971 or by emailing [email protected]
