Removing Smoke Odor

9/8/2015 (Permalink)

After a fire, don't try to clean away a smoke odor from textiles until you have deordorized them.

Removing Smoke Odor From Clothing, Furniture, and Carpets

After a fire you’re eager to clean your home, but be careful. You may waste effort or even make things worse if you don’t use proper methods. Begin by contacting your insurance agent immediately after a fire. Then consult with a fire restoration expert like SERVPRO® of Bloomfield/Enfield. For dealing with the smell of smoke in clothing, upholstered furniture, carpets, and drapes, here are some tips.

Need Smoke Or Soot Removal Services? Call (860) 216-2785

After a home fire, several factors can influence the severity of the odor:
• Size of the fire: The larger the fire, the more materials have been burned, and the more smoke you’ll have.
• Length of exposure: The longer an area is exposed to smoke, the more deeply embedded the smoke odor can be in all porous materials.
• Size of the room affected: The smaller the room, the more intense and concentrated the smoke odor can become.
• The material burned: Different materials leave behind different odors. A wood fire smells differently than a fire that burns mostly plastic materials, for example. The type of materials affected may influence the type of products you need to remove the smoke odor.

Deodorize Before You Clean
Before you have anything cleaned, properly deodorize the affected items. We recommend you use professionals. A dry cleaner or professional fire restorer will tell you about counteractants. Counteractants are chemicals or additives that break up smoke molecules and eliminate the smoke odor. You need different counteractants depending on the material burned in the fire. Counteractants may be professionally applied to furniture, carpets, and drapes. Fire restorers also may provide them for laundering clothes.

Some professional fire restorers and dry cleaners use an ozone treatment to remove smoke odors. If they do the work in your home, they’ll put your smoke odor affected items under a tent while an ozone generator runs.

Household Remedies Only Provide Temporary Relief
Yes, you may think about using a household deodorizing spray or disinfectant but they provide only temporary relief from smoke odor. And, deodorizing sprays may interact with smoke odor and create an additional odor.

If it’s impossible for you to have your smoke odor infested items restored by a professional fire restorer, you might try one of these methods:

1. Dissolve one cup of dishwashing detergent—the type used in an
automatic dishwasher—in one gallon of warm water. Completely submerge the items and let them soak all night in your washing machine or bathtub. Drain and launder as usual the next day.

2. For items that can be bleached, mix 4 to 6 tablespoons trisodium phosphate (available from your hardware store) with 1 cup Lysol or household chlorine bleach and 1 gallon of water. Add clothes, rinse with clear water, and dry.

We’re here to help. The team at SERVPRO of Bloomfield/Enfield has specialized fire restoration training and experience to quickly clean up and restore your home to pre-fire condition. We can remove virtually any pervasive smoke odor and deep-clean soot from upholstery and carpet.

We use a thorough fire damage restoration process:
Step1: Emergency Contact
Step 2: Inspection and Fire Damage Assessment
Step 3: Immediate Board-Up and Roof Tarp Service (if needed)
Step 4: Water Removal and Drying (if water damage is present)
Step 5: Removal of Smoke and Soot from All Surfaces
Step 6: Cleaning and Repair
Step 7: Restoration

So call SERVPRO of Bloomfield/Enfield (860.216.2785) anytime, 24/7.

We've served clients in Ellington, West Hartford, Avon, Springfield, Manchester, Hartford, Newington, Bloomfield, East Hartford, Enfield, Simsbury, Coventry, South Windsor, Agawam, and beyond.

SERVPRO of Bloomfield/Enfield
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi Garcia
Franchise Owner
Call (860) 216-2785
24 hour emergency service