Many people don’t know that even if a fire is contained, the damage may continue if it is not properly addressed. The damage from smoke to your home or office may not be immediately obvious, but can quickly become a serious problem. It doesn’t help that fire can be a very stressful experience. Instead of doing immediate fire and smoke damage restoration, people often end up waiting, which causes more damage in to the structure of a home or building in the long run- and can even result in another fire.
Sooty Walls
Contrary to popular belief, black soot is caused by smoke and not fire itself. In cases when there is incomplete combustion, as in closed spaces such as houses, the fire produces smoke instead of just carbon dioxide and water vapor. Among the substances in smoke are carbon particles and deadly carbon monoxide.
When carbon particles adhere to surfaces as the smoke attempts to rise into open air, they produce a film called soot. When you’re doing smoke damage restoration, you’ll need a strong cleaner to get the soot out.
Smoky Smells
The smoky odor after a fire tends to cling and stay for long periods of time and tends to penetrate even into unburnt areas of your home. Things made with porous materials such as curtains, cushions and carpets can be particularly prone to this lingering smell. Even wood furniture can absorb it.
Many fire survivors find that it takes ages for the smoky odor to go away without smoke damage restoration. It’s as if a ghost of the fire is left behind long after the fire has gone.
Saving Your Appliances
Smoke can also deposit chemicals into your otherwise unburnt appliances that can damage them over time. This is because when fire retardants, a common additive to furniture, textiles and appliances, manage to catch fire, they release acidic compounds.
These acidic compounds can corrode metals such as pipes, circuit boards and electrical wirings, turning them into potential dangers for triggering a new fire without immediate smoke damage restoration.
While there can be parts of the process you can do yourself, it’s still best to call a smoke damage restoration service. Professional services are thorough, and can leave hardly any soot or whiff of smoke in place. In addition, the restoration they can conduct on appliances will save you the worry of having a second fire in your home.
