10 Things You Didn't Know About Smoke Damage

10 Things You Didn't Know about Smoke Damage



Smoke damage is an extremely costly consequence of fire and can drastically affect the value of your home, business, or even personal property. But while the behavior of smoke may seem straightforward, the ways in which smoke behaves and the science behind how it damages your property may surprise you. Here are the 10 things you didn't know about smoke damage:



1. Smoke Migrates to Cooler Areas: The behavior of smoke during a fire is largely dependent on temperature. Smoke is typically hot and migrates to cooler regions of your home. Unfortunately, the cooler regions of your home are often hard to reach places, like cabinets and the under side of furniture. This makes the cleaning process much more difficult and is one of the major consequences of smoke damage.

2. Smoke Uses Plumbing to Migrate Through Your House: Smoke naturally travels through plumbing systems, using holes around pipes to travel from floor to floor. This is the best way for smoke to travel throughout homes and buildings and cause further damage. Vents and plumbing systems are cleaned and often replaced if smoke damage is great enough.

3. Wet, Smoldering Fires Produce the Most Damaging Smoke: The type of fire and the type of smoke produced by the fire make a huge difference when it comes to cleaning smoke damage. Wet, smoldering fires produce highly volatile and noxious smoke, the effects of which can persist for years. One of the best things to do after a fire is to be sure that all wet spots are dry and that all smoldering embers are doused to prevent this highly damaging type of smoke.

4. High Temperature Fires Produce Easy to Clean Smoke Damage: Contrary to what you might believe, high temperature fires tend to be less damaging than smoldering fires. Thatís because they burn very quickly and produce a different type of smoke that contains less damaging soot. As a result, even though the high temperature fire may seem like it would produce more damage, you may just get lucky.

5. Smoke Damage Persists for Years With out Professional Help: You can attempt to clean smoke damage yourself, but without professional help the effects of smoke damage can persist in your home for years or even decades. Professionals can make our home seem brand new again with innovative chemical techniques and professional assessment of smoke damage. Do yourself a favor; hire an expert.

6. The Most Damaging Component of Smoke is Invisible: While the billowing clouds of dark smoke may seem the likely culprit, it ís the invisible protein residues of smoke that can cause the most damage. These residues can break down metal, wood, paint, and even porcelain, and their highly volatile chemical make-up allows them to penetrate deep into almost any substance while remaining totally invisible. Beware of this invisible killer!

7. After a Fire, you Must Consult the Fire Marshall Before Cleaning Your Home: You may want to get a head start on your smoke damage, but until you consult the fire marshal after a fire in your home, it is illegal for you to re-enter. A fire marshal will assess the safety of your home and be sure that nothing bad will happen once you re-enter after a fire.

8. Smoke Damage Can destroy Metal and Wood Items: You might think that hearty substance like wood and metal would not be affected by smoke as much as upholstery and textiles. You would be wrong. The noxious protein residues in smoke can break down brass, copper, wood, and even stone, causing them to decay at an ultra rapid rate. Be sure to let a professional know about the exposure of wood and metal items to smoke and the duration of the exposure.

9. The Number 1 Rule to Prevent Lasting Smoke Damage: Get Air Moving: If you want to get a head start on cleaning up your home after smoke damage, follow the cardinal rule. Get air moving. Use fans and open windows to keep air circulating throughout your home. This will prevent any remaining smoke residues from penetrating even deeper into your house and property.

10. Thermal Fogging is an Innovative Way to Remove Smoke Odor: When in doubt, fight fire with fire. Thermal fogging is a fancy way of describing a technique that uses smoke to battle smoke. By filling a smoke damaged home with specially treated thermal fog, the bad smoke deposited by the fire can be neutralized in much the same way as the original smoke caused the damage. A professional will be able to assess whether or not thermal fogging is necessary, but it ís a great way to reverse the terrible effects of smoke damage.