Eliminating Smoke Odor After a Fire

5/17/2019 (Permalink)

Call a fire restoration specialist in the Maywood, IL, area

Smoke Cleaning Tricks to Remove the Stench From Your Home

While fires can be put out and some even mitigated with little restoration needed, smoke damage can linger. The smells associated with a fire can be challenging to remove, and it will often take a fair bit of elbow grease and possibly professional services to eliminate any residual odors thoroughly. However, there are a couple of smoke cleaning tricks you can use to remove the stench from your home.

1. Vinegar and Water

While the odor is only one aspect of smoke damage, it likely permeates from both hard and soft surfaces. Using a mixture of vinegar and water on all your homes hard surfaces can help. You will want to spray the walls, counters and shelves with this mixture and let it dry. Once dry, you can wipe everything down with a damp rag. Using the vinegar and water mixture should help to reduce the smoke smell.

2. Baking Soda

For porous surfaces, smoke cleaning with vinegar and water may not be the best option. Instead, use baking soda on carpets and other fabrics. The baking soda will absorb some of the odor-causing chemicals. After letting the baking soda sit on the porous materials for a while, you can use a vacuum to discard it. However, be sure to empty the vacuum afterward to avoid transferring any stink.

3. Professional Services

If neither of the above solutions help to remove the smoke odor from your home, or if they didn’t eliminate the odor altogether, then you can call a fire restoration specialist in the Maywood, IL, area. These professionals are experienced in fire damage and will be able to help you with your home’s deodorization.

Depending on the extent of the fire, DIY smoke cleaning may eliminate your home’s odor problems. However, in larger disasters or more significant blazes, a remediation expert may be necessary. In either situation, your home can return to normal with appropriate action.