Should I Call A Professional Fire Damage Restorer in New Britain to Remove Smoke Residues?

7/19/2020 (Permalink)

“Like it never even happened.”

Professional Smoke Damage Restorers Like SERVPRO Have Sufficient Resources to Work Faster When Restoring Your Property

Although fires are generally known to be destructive, the actual damages to the property result from separate factors, for instance, flames consume materials; heat melts, or causes superficial changes, while smoke deposits layers of residues on materials. If the incident at your New Britain house involves a minor or smoldering fire, the damage is predominantly from the smoke. Thus, you might be unsure whether to clean it yourself or involve a professional.

What constitutes smoke damage after a fire incident?

When fire damage loss in New Britain results from smoke effects only, you can expect issues like:
    •    Staining of surfaces
    •    Corrosion of materials by residues
    •    Strong odors
    •    Widespread residues within the property

Compared to other aspects of a fire, damage from smoke may seem friendlier to deal with since it does not consume the materials it affects. However, once you start the restoration, the process you expected to be simple can prove tasking. For instance, smoke readily spreads around the property through every opening or crack. Therefore, it can reach areas far from the source, increasing the cleaning workload.

Our SERVPRO technicians are well versed with the effects of smoke, so we anticipate most of the aspects that might surprise you. We understand that extended exposure to smoke residues can stain granite or other stone surfaces permanently, or corrode metals and metallic finishes. We can help you preempt such outcomes by pre-cleaning vulnerable materials and applying protective substances such as a thin oil film. We also expedite the cleaning process, thus minimizing exposure.

How tasking is the process of removing smoke residues from a house?

Cleaning smoke residue from surfaces is not difficult because, in most cases, it only takes agitation with a material such as a cleaning rug soaked in a detergent or other cleaning agents. However, several factors can complicate the process, including:
    •    Vastness of the area covered by residues
    •    Presence of residues in hard-to-reach areas
    •    Impingement or penetration of residues on surfaces
    •    Unique physical or chemical properties of the residues

When you consider the total surface area of walls, ceilings, floors, and contents that you have to clean, you may realize that the restoration task is not as easy as it might appear. The fire might also deposit varying residues in different sections of the property, necessitating the use of different cleaning approaches. For instance, lipophilic residues may require oil-based cleaning agents to remove, while the rest, you can clean with water-based cleaners.

Our SERVPRO technicians help because we have access to a ton of resources, including a variety of cleaning agents to remove different types of soils. We also have equipment such as ladders to ease access and automated machines such as roto pads, which quicken the removal of heavy residues.

Which areas of the property are hard to reach when removing smoke residues?

In an ideal situation, the smoke residues would only accumulate on accessible surfaces such as the wall and ceiling surfaces facing the room or contents. However, smoke behavior rarely results in ideal outcomes. The colder temperatures inside wall cavities attract smoke as it is driven by convectional currents. In the hidden areas, it accumulates on materials such as insulation, which increases the difficulty of the cleaning process. Hot smoke can also embed residues deep into porous or old materials meaning that wiping the area is not a sufficient removal process.

Cleaning a wall or ceiling cavity requires demolition to access the materials within the space. Our SERVPRO technicians are well versed with controlled demolition of light materials such as drywall without causing unnecessary damages, ensuring we resolve an incident, “Like it never even happened.” Since cleaning insulation can be more expensive than replacement, we remove around 3 to 4 inches of the soiled top insulation layers and inspect the rest for smoke odor before adding a new layer.

Cleaning porous areas where we expect residue penetration beyond the surface can present challenges when using standard methods. Our technicians use advanced approaches such as applying absorbent powders, which sop up residues. We then vacuum the area to remove the powder and absorbed residues. The method is helpful when dealing with soiling on porous materials such as:
    •    Concrete
    •    Brick
    •    Marble
    •    Upholstery
    •    Fabrics

In the case of stubborn soiling, we can also combine the powder with a solvent to increase efficiency. For such usage, we can pre-treat the area with the solvent before applying the powder. Alternatively, we can mix the powder and the solvent to make a paste that we apply on the soiled areas to remove residues beyond the surface.

Dealing with smoke damaged property in Middletown, Cromwell, or Berlin can be more challenging than you expect. Call SERVPRO of Middletown / New Britain at (860) 826-5169 to help. We’re Faster to Any Size Disaster.