SERVPRO of Northeast Wichita is Here to Help with your Fire Damage

11/27/2019 (Permalink)

Whether your fire is as intense as this photo or if there is a light layer of soot and odor in a just a few rooms we can help make it clean.

Often when fire or smoke damage occurs in a house if it isn’t extensive many homeowner choose to clean it themselves and some are more successful than others. Many issues we have seen when we come in after the fact to help deodorize are: using the wrong types of cleaning materials for the soot/odor type, lingering odors, or even a larger scope than expected.

Here are a few tips for cleaning a smoke or fire loss yourself. Of course it is always a good idea to give us a call for a fire cleaning inspection to give you idea of what should be done and what that would cost. 

Deodorization

Foul odors are probably the most common issue with fires and it is difficult to know where odor is coming from and what should be done to stop it. Unfortunately there is no way to measure odor or any machine which can detect it besides the human nose. Besides meticulously cleaning every affected source things like carpet cleaning, duct cleaning, ozone or thermal fog can help deodorize after a fire. Sometimes sealing affected materials is necessary to stop odor.

Cleaning Agents

Depending on what was burned in a fire using the wrong kind of chemical to clean can make the issue worse! Some soot types will get set into the material they are on when cleaned with a water based cleaning agent. Oils from human skin can also set soot into the material it has attached upon. Fires that started from protein based sources often need a enzyme based cleaner and other fires need oil based. That is why we test clean before starting a project to figure out the best approach.

Thermal Fogging

If a fire is very hot the pours of materials all over the house can open up and soot and other odor causing particles go into those pours and then the pours shrink as the materials cool trapping those pesky odor causing chemicals into the materials. That is why we often employ thermal fogging at the end of a cleaning which opens those pours up with the heat of the fog, destroys those particles and can leave a nice scent or a neutral one depending on your preference.

Whether the fire just happened or if the smell of an old fire lingers give SERVPRO of Northeast Wichita a call at 316-684-6700 and our certified technicians can help bring your home back to the way it was before the fire.