Blog
Smoke and fire damage are very different. Fire damage is caused by an actual fire. Smoke is the smell of burned things such as household items, furniture, curtains, and carpeting. The materials that were burned away during a fire remain hot for a little while. After the fire has been put out they will smolder or burn slowly into what we all know as soot and smoke. It is a sticky substance that can be very difficult to remove and it often masks other smells with which it comes into contact.
The removal process of smoke damage can vary. This is because the structure where the fire occurred will affect how severe the burn is. You may need to remove painted walls, ceiling tiles, carpeting, paneling, and other items. Professionals do this carefully so that they will not spread out the smoke odor or contaminate anything else while removing them.
There are four types of smoke damage which each come from different things. These four are dry smoke, protein residue, fuel/oil residue, and wet smoke. If it is dry smoke then the fire’s temperature and type of fuel can be different. If it is protein residue then the area that was burned will have a smell like meat or hair that does not go away easily. Fuel/oil residue happens if oil or gasoline were used to start the fire. Wet smoke might happen when there was water in contact with the fire for a long time so some of what has been damaged are wet and not just dried out like normal fires would do to walls or furniture. All these types of smoke have to be handled differently by someone who knows how to restore the property to its original state.
It is important to know that there can be a strong odor after a smoke and fire event. The smell will stay in your house for days to weeks, even if it has been dried out.
However, fire and smoke damage differ. Fire causes deep damage to the structure of a building. But it is easier to clean up than smoke damage. Smoke can travel down into the building’s structure when there is a fire, which can burn away at fabrics and wood materials that leave behind black or brown residue smells.
Fire damage charrs the wood structure of a building, turning it a dark color. If you turn over the burnt material and it looks like black instead of brown or white, then this is a good indicator of fire damage.
When looking to remove the smell of smoke and soot from your home, make sure there is no fire damage first. If there is not any, you can clean it. This will take away the smell and discoloration caused by smoke. If you try to remove the smoke and soot without cleaning up any fire damage, it could make the situation worse. One of our professional fire restoration technicians can assess the property for damage and restore it to new.
If you have a house with post smoke and fire damage, it is best to hire a professional company to clean up the fire damage. This way, all of the areas that were damaged by the fire will be taken care of. If you want to remove any smoke smell from your house without getting rid of fire damage at first, then the use of special cleaning techniques and knowledge should be left to our experts.
In the end, smoke and fire damage utilize separate cleanup processes. They originate from the same source, both cause a different level of property damage. Smoke damage has to be removed through suction to the structure. While fire damage needs to be scrubbed off the surface.
When a fire occurs, the damage can be hard to clean up. It is best to hire professionals to restore the smoke and fire damage of a property. United Water Restoration Group of Jacksonville has staff who are professionally trained in fire damage restoration. You can call us at (904) 469-1606 and one of our experts will come out to repair your fire-damaged property!
