How Does Smoke Damage a Home’s Interior

1/21/2018 (Permalink)

Cleaning Smoke Damage

While the flames of a house fire can definitely be damaging to a home and can ultimately destroy a home, it is the smoke from a house fire that leads to the most damage in most house fires.

Most house fires are usually extinguished quickly either by the homeowner or the fire department resulting in minimal damage from the flames of a fire. For example, a common house fire that occurs quite often is a kitchen fire. This is usually a result of burning food in the oven or on the stovetop. These fires are usually put out very quickly resulting in minimal damage from the flames but a lot of damage from the smoke.

So how does smoke damage a home’s interior? What are the contents of smoke? How does smoke spread? And how do you remove smoke damage and odor from a home? Below we answer all these questions to help you better understand how smoke from a house fire damages your home’s interior and how to remediate it.

What Is In Smoke?

Smoke is made up of many particulates dependent on the material that is burning. It also contains aerosols and gases. The particulates can include carbon soot, dust, and fibers. The aerosols can include hydrocarbons like oils and tars. Gases in smoke can include carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, and benzene.

When smoke comes into contact with your home’s contents, it can cause discoloration and odor. What you may not know is that the smokes ingredients can also cause further damage and degradation to your home’s contents over time. That’s why it’s important to call fire remediation professionals like those at SERVPRO of Indianapolis West.

Smoke Travels Quickly

The other damaging effect of smoke from a house fire is that is can travel far and also permeate many of your home’s contents like electronics, drywall, ceilings, fabric furniture, clothes, and carpets. As noted previously, the contents of the smoke can discolor and cause lasting odors in many of your home’s contents.

If you experience a small fire, it’s best to try to open a nearby window to air out the smoke to reduce the potential damages to your home. If you have a ceiling fan on, air conditioner running, or heater running, you may want to turn them off so the smoke isn’t carried throughout your home.

What To Do If You Experience A Fire?

As you can see, the smoke from a house fire can be particularly damaging to your home’s interior and its contents. Due to the nature of smoke being able to penetrate many of the surfaces and contents of your home, normal cleaning materials may not be fully effective. Residual smoke and soot can lead to lingering odors, discoloration of your walls and ceilings, and degradation of the internals of your electronics. That’s why it’s important to call the fire damage experts at SERVRPRO of Indianapolis West as soon as possible.

If you should suffer from a house fire, even if it’s a small kitchen fire, contact SERVPRO of Indianapolis West online or call them at 317-243-3149. The will clean up and restore the damage as if it never happened.