Smoke Damage Removal

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Before any other cleaning, remove the excessive soot from walls and other surfaces using enough powerful vacuum cleaner of canister style. The gloves, goggles and a facial mask should be used for protection. Do not apply tools such as brushes and beater bars to carpeting or drapes as the soiling can be further pushed into the materials instead of cleaning them. Just vacuum the soot holding the nozzle above these places.

It is necessary to clean the carpeting professionally both before and after you remove the smoke damage from fixtures and walls. First time you clean to avoid the soot grounding into the carpet fibers when you will be removing the rest of the damage.

The next step is to clean the porous surfaces with dry chemical sponge. Beginning at the top of the surface remove the soot stains with the sponge gradually working down. Dry sponge cleaning can be skipped if damage on walls is severe enough to make repainting necessary.

Choose either a TSP-type cleaner containing trisodium phosphate or a multi-purpose cleaning concentrate with an odor remover. Dissolve one tablespoon of the trisodium phosphate powder in a gallon of warm water, or apply a concentrated cleanser following the manufacturer's directions.

Having filled up another bucket with warm water for rinsing the sponge in, start to clean the surfaces with the cleanser from top to bottom, periodically rinsing the sponge out in the clean water and sinking it into the cleaning solution as you go over windows and walls. Dump out the water from time to time and refill the bucket with clear.

Surfaces being cleaned should not be excessively saturated with water. Repeat scrubbing over surfaces until the soot residue will be totally removed. When going to move over to another section, dry off the cleaned areas with terrycloth towel. Then you may apply a disinfecting cleanser with orange oil or trisodium phosphate with a simple vinegar dissolved in warm water to remove odor even better.

Any washing materials or clothing should be cleaned by soaking them in a deodorizing solution such as vinegar and water or a professional solution recommended for use in smoke damage removal. Soak the clothing overnight after washing machine with three cups of vinegar in the water. To remove the smoke odor completely, your clothing and other fabrics may need to be washed up to five times.

By opening windows and using large fans or a professional ozone generator you should air out all the rooms to finally remove the smoke odors. Air purifiers equipped with activated charcoal filter systems are also good in this case

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