Experts Talk About Smoke Damage Facts

Smoke may not be as dangerous as fires or floods but they can still cause a lot of damage to your home if you ignore them.

Not only can they discolor your household items, but they can also cause all kinds of health problems.

Most homeowners underestimate smoke damage because they don’t know enough about them. So if your home recently had a fire and there’s a lot of smoke all over the property then here are several facts that you should know. 

Smoke Damage Causes Health Problems

This particular fact is already well-known, but it’s worth repeating nonetheless. Smoke damage can cause all kinds of health problems, particular respiratory ailments.

Children and persons with lung problems are particularly vulnerable but they can affect anyone given enough time and exposure to smoke particles. 

The only way to avoid these risks is to get rid of the smoke damage as soon as possible. All ash piles and soot particles need to be removed quickly so that they don’t get the chance to spread around your home. And finally, the affected areas need to be sanitized to prevent minor health hazards. 

Smoke Damage Can Stink Up Your Home

Smoke damage can definitely stink up any home. Aside from the usual smell of ash and soot, smoke particles may also interact with other substances, making their smell even worse than before. 

Several good examples include paint cans, pesticides, gasoline, rubber, and plastics. Anyone of these substances can intensify the stench and smell of smoke, and although it’s possible to mask some of the odor using air fresheners and other similar items, you won’t be able to get rid of the smell until the smoke particles have been removed.

Smoke Damage Causes Discoloration

Smoke damage can cause permanent discoloration on all kinds of household materials, including wall tiles, ceiling materials, wood, vinyl and many others. Furthermore, ash can also corrode metallic surfaces, and ruin otherwise attractive household appliances.

Because of these effects, smoke damage can be particularly devastating to homes that have a lot of paintings and sensitive surfaces. In some cases, the permanent damage that smoke damage causes can be more permanent and devastating than the damage caused by the actual fire itself.

Also, most fires are localized, but smoke can spread all over your home, which means that they can discolor walls and surfaces that have never even been near the actual fire. 

Hot Smoke Moves Around Very Quickly

Hot smoke tends to move from hot, low-level areas to cool, high-level areas. So if your home has sustained smoke damage, don’t think that it can be contained in a specific place.

Given enough time, it will eventually reach those parts of your home that have not been touched by the fire, including your bathroom, your bedrooms, and even your attic. 

Smoke Flows Through Pipes

In many situations, smoke can enter your pipes, and through these pipes, they can go from one floor to another.

For example, if you recently had a fire in your kitchen, the smoke could spread from there to your bathrooms or even your basement through the pipes that run all throughout your home. 

So it’s not impossible for smoke damage to affect rooms and areas which are relatively unlikely to catch fire. They may even enter your bedroom through your heating or HVAC system. 

If you have this problem, you should ask your home restoration company for advice. They may also be able to work on your pipes to prevent smoke and dust from flowing through them. 

There are Two Types of Smoke Damage

Most homeowners aren’t aware of this, but there are actually two types of smoke damage. There’s wet smoke damage and there’s dry smoke damage.

Wet smoke usually comes from plastics and rubbers. They also have pungent odors and have sticky textures.

They are also more difficult to clean, since the soot and ash are mixed with melted plastics and rubber, and in certain cases, the ash and soot may combine with toxic chemicals to become something very dangerous. 

On the other hand, dry smoke is produced by paper, wood and other fast-burning, high-temperature materials. The good news is that these types of smoke damage are also easier to clean because the soot and ash are not mixed with sticky or viscous substances.

However, dry smoke can still damage and discolor your belongings if they are allowed to spread all over your home.

Smoke Damage Can Damage Your Electronic Devices

One of the most important things that you should remember about smoke particles is that they are corrosive, and like all corrosive substances, they can damage electrical devices.

Smoke, soot, and ash may not be as corrosive as certain chemicals but they can still cause a lot of damage in sufficiently large amounts.

Laptops, phones, tablets, TVs and other electronic devices are particularly vulnerable to smoke damage because most of their components are vulnerable to corrosion.

Think about your phone’s touch screen, for example. Exposing its surface to hot smoke can damage its screen as well as some of its internal components. In the worst-case scenario, the smoke may even permanently destroy your phone. 

What Should You Do If Your Home Has Sustained Smoke Damage?

The best way to deal with smoke damage is to hire a home restoration company to deal with it for you. Not only can they remove the soot, ash and smoke stains, they can also remove the pervasive smell of smoke all over your home.

They can also work on your property to make sure that the soot and ash are cleaned out of your pipes and appliances. 

If you need top-quality smoke damage home restoration services, Water Damage Miami can provide you the solutions you need.

Our smoke damage restoration team will clean away all the soot, ash and stains in your home and dispose of them as quickly as possible. So if you need our help, just give us a call.