Fires don’t only affect structural materials. You also experience the repercussions of a house fire after you extinguish the flames. Whether the fire was big or small, it leaves behind a lingering odor that can be harmful to you and your family.
Smoke affects the air quality in your house, so you need to act immediately to get rid of the smoke smell and ensure your home is safe and habitable.
This article will give you tips on removing smoke odors from your house so you and your family can breathe clean air again.
Assess the Fire Damage #
After a house fire, the first thing you should do is evaluate the damage. It doesn’t matter if the fire was large and ferocious or small and quickly contained, porous materials absorb the smoke particles that cause strong odors.
You need to consider the size of the fire, the number of rooms affected, and the location. Large fires tend to produce more intense smoke, and the odor will be worse in smaller rooms than in big ones.
You should also find out how long the fire lasted. If the fire wasn’t extinguished right away, furniture and surfaces were exposed for a longer time, and the odor is now embedded in the materials.
You need to assess the burned material because it will significantly impact the smell. For instance, the smoke smell from burning plastic is a lot harder to remove than smoke in fabrics.
Open All The Windows and Doors to Remove Smoke Odors #
You need to open your windows and front door to let fresh air in. Proper ventilation is key in this situation. Fresh air will remove the smoke smell and particles, especially if it can flow through the building.
If the weather is bad, this can have the opposite effect and worsen the smoke odor. If it is raining or snowing, and moisture gets into your home, it can soak smoke odors deeper into fabrics and other materials and make it harder to remove smoke smells.
Positive Pressure #
The smoke odor may be too intense for regular ventilation in some cases. Positive pressure is your best solution here. It is a smoke odor removal technique that increases pressure inside a room to push air outside, remove odors, and improve air quality.
Applying positive pressure is quite simple. You will need to place a large fan outside your entrance door, face it inwards, and leave the door open.
Open one window, close the rest, and close all doors. This will let fresh air in and push the lingering smoke smell out. Turn the fan on the highest setting for 15 minutes; air will be forced through the room in one direction, taking the smoke smell with it. Repeat the process with as many rooms as needed.
Clean the House of Smoke Particles #
The smoke will impact all your household items. The best solution is deep cleaning your home to get rid of the smoke smell. You should clean all your items and surfaces to ensure the smoke odor is completely removed.
The Carpets #
Smoke particles land on the carpet, and if it isn’t properly cleaned, it will make it hard to get rid of the fire smoke smell. Cleaning the carpets will remove soot and smoke particles.
Baking soda is very effective in getting rid of smoke odors. Sprinkle baking soda on your carpets and leave it for a day to absorb the smell of smoke.
The next day, vacuum the carpet using a vacuum cleaner that has a HEPA filter to prevent smoke particles from blowing back into the house. Make sure that you clean all the baking soda from the carpets. It is an easy process you can repeat more than once until the smoke odor is gone.
If your carpets aren’t made of delicate materials, you can also try steam cleaning. Steam cleaning is very effective in cleaning carpets that are affected by smoke.
HVAC Systems Help With Smoke Odor #
You must get your HVAC system inspected because the smoke residue will affect your ventilation system. You should also change your air conditioning filter, furnace filters, and all air filters in your house.
To ensure the air quality in your home is breathable, choose professional air duct cleaning. There are also simple and natural cleaning solutions that you can use to reduce the smell in your house.
You can place scented candles, activated charcoal, air fresheners, or bowls of vinegar in various places in your home to absorb the smells.
Fabrics #
Everything in your home will be ingrained with smoke odors. Therefore, you will need to remove all your area rugs, curtains, blankets, towels, clothes, and cushions.
Some of these items will require dry cleaning, while others you can wash at home, like your towels and clothes.
You should wash them for more than one cycle to remove the smoke smell. However, if you still find a lingering odor on your fabrics, you can add distilled white vinegar to your laundry detergent to help fight strong odors.
Solid Surfaces #
Smoke particles get stuck on solid surfaces as well. You will need to clean your walls, ceilings, doors, shelves, cabinets, light switches, light fixtures, and furniture.
You won’t need tools or expensive products, just a sponge and a cleaning solution made of hot water, vinegar, and dish soap to remove smoke particles and odors from surfaces.
You can clean your uncarpeted floors using the same cleaning solution and a mop. Keep rinsing the mop while cleaning to wash away smoke particles.
Cleaning furniture requires special products to remove the fire smoke smell, so you should buy high-quality products and read the instructions before you use them. You can also put the furniture outside in the fresh air to remove any lingering smoke smell.
Another effective solution is a house tent fumigation. This tent is perfect for removing odors from certain items that you can’t wash or dry clean. You will need to include an ozone generator with the tent as well.
Windows #
To remove the smoke smell, you will need to clean your window panes, screens, frames, and blinds. You will need to exert more effort when cleaning the blinds because they collect more smoke residue than glass.
If you have plastic blinds, clean them by mixing white vinegar with warm water. However, wooden blinds require extra care, so you should use products designed for cleaning wood.
Wash your window screens using dish soap and cool water, and leave them outside until they dry. If you have an exhaust fan, you can clean its filter the same way.
Appliances #
Your appliances will also be affected by fire smoke. Use a sponge and a mixture of baking soda and warm water to clean and remove the smoke smell from your appliances.
Repaint the Walls #
You can do everything mentioned here, and the house might still smell like smoke; this is because paint absorbs odors. Repainting your walls is your best option to fix the fire damage and remove the smoke odor.
Before repainting, you should first wash the walls using a cleaning solution and rinse them properly. Check the ingredients first and ensure that the solution contains glycol and ammonia to counteract the smoke odor.
Wait for the paint to dry before applying an odor-locking primer. After the primer dries, paint your walls with latex paint.
Hire a Fire Damage Restoration Company to Deal With the Smoke Smell #
If you don’t have the time to get rid of the fire smoke yourself, you should consider hiring professionals. They have the expertise, tools, and equipment needed for smoke odor removal.
A professional will use ozone generators, air scrubbers, and other advanced equipment to get the job done. They might also use a thermal fogging machine to disperse deodorant droplets to remove the smoke odor.
This is the best solution for a big fire, and the smoke damage was severe. Removing soot from household items yourself might cause more damage. Leave it to the experts to restore your house to its pre-fire state without having to lift a finger.
Some of your household items may need to be replaced in severe cases. This is unfortunate but necessary to remove the smoke odor for good.
Final Thoughts #
Getting rid of fire smoke in your house isn’t impossible. You just need to assess the fire damages first, then try the different methods stated here for each of your household items.
It is a process that will take time and effort but is worth it to get your home back in shape and to be able to breathe clean air again.
Related reading: Getting started with prepping; The Importance Of Fire Safety In Prepping Plans; How To Safely Handle And Store Chemicals For Prepping