Can One Company Help to Eliminate Both Fire Damage and Smoke Odors?

5/27/2020 (Permalink)

Your home is in good hands with our teams at SERVPRO. Give us a call at (706) 750-0200, we are always available.

SERVPRO Has the Skills and Equipment to Manage All Aspects of Augusta Residential Fire Damage Recovery

Cleaning up after a fire rages through your home is overwhelming, requiring a seemingly endless set of tasks to be completed before you can enjoy the security and comfort of your house again. The soils and residues created during the disaster are like nothing else the typical Augusta homeowner encounters in home repair and maintenance. Not only are surfaces charred and coated with soot, but an incredibly unpleasant stench also pervades every space in your dwelling, including rooms that appear otherwise unaffected by the fire loss. Are sound strategies for deodorization available through the professional companies that provide fire damage mitigations and remediation? 

How Are Persistent Odors Linked to Fire Damage?

The lingering odors complained of by homeowners tie directly to other types of fire damage in Augusta. When a fire burns inside a building, the fuels change from room to room. Wood and paper burn fast and hot, leaving a light, ashy soot that is relatively easy to clean up nearly completely with dusting, dry sponging, and HEPA-filtered vacuuming approaches. Plastics, rubber, damp materials, and other synthetics smolder at a lower temperature, spreading a thick, dark soot that sticks and stinks. Removal needs the help of agitation, properly matched cleaners, heat manipulation, and time for cleaners to soak off the residue. Protein-based soot relates to kitchen fires, the coating tenaciously adhered to surfaces. This final type of soot has a pungent and offensive stench caused by the dehydrated rancid food and grease proteins left behind.

Are There Conditions that Make Smoke Odors Worse?

When SERVPRO considers the range of solutions available for fire damage and odor, the more data we have, the better. Basic deodorization protocols used by our crews may not achieve the success desired because of heightened humidity or temperatures that vaporize odors that are absorbed deeply into permeable structural components. Materials inside walls are difficult to examine for an odor assessment, such as insulation that holds the odor-bearing particles of soot far within, permitting the odor to flow outward later as air pressure varies. Every individual perceives odors differently as well, posing a problem when all other occupants of your home breathe freely, yet one person is more sensitive and continues to note malodors.

How Do Professionals Eliminate Fire Odors from Your Home?

The good news is that several tasks our remediation crews use to clean up the charring and sticky coatings on every surface are the same as some of the first phases of odor elimination. Since odors are attached to soot particles, thorough cleaning is an effective way to achieve the deodorization as well. Here are some procedures our crews use to clean residues that can rid your house of odors as a double benefit:

Containment

Designated containment areas reduces the drift of smoke and soot and prevents further spread of residues stirred up during the cleaning efforts. When we contain an area after fire damage, we frequently employ a negative pressure air scrubbing system that forces airborne residues, including odors, through HEPA filters and then vents the air to the outdoors. Vacuuming and wipe downs of all soot-covered surfaces ensure very few odor-bearing particles remain. The contained area is wrapped in 1.6 mil polyethylene for more protection. 

Debris Removal

Chunks of charred material, either structural or from burned contents, are significant carriers of odor. Our crews collect and bag these items, removing them and their smell from the house.

Sealing of Surfaces

Sometimes odors, linked to the soot, are ground into surfaces. If staining remains, our crews arrange for priming and repainting or refinishing of surfaces. This action can seal the odors inside. Sealing is also used as an odor-eliminating strategy on its own. 

What if Cleaning Up Still Permits Odor to Permeate?

When odors survive even thorough, professional cleaning, our Odor Control Technicians (OCT) turn to advanced technologies. As an Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) certified firm, we continually monitor innovative deodorization equipment and techniques. We work through options until one works for your property.

Thermal Fogging

Deodorants are combusted, replicating the conditions of the fire, and fogged into odiferous spaces. The deodorant particles seek out the soot, pairing with the odor bearing particles and neutralizing them.

Hydroxyl Generators

This specialized machine creates reactive hydroxyl molecules that can convert the contaminants into harmless, non-odiferous compounds. It is safe to operate this equipment around people and pets. 

Why is SERVPRO of Augusta the fire damage and odor restoration leader in our region? Contact us at (706) 750-0200 to discuss the options we can offer.