Essential Smoke Damage Cleanup Tips

Following a fire incident, especially if it is after an oil or grease based fire, you would always have to take some precautions to counter and repair smoke damage done to the walls and the ceilings of the buildings. In the majority of cases, if the smoke damage happens to be minimal and restricted only to certain areas, the cleanup does not prerequisite an elaborate ritual. Enumerated below are some of the essential smoke damage cleanup tips that will help you to get rid of the signs of fire from the affected parts of the building.

Be Certain That the Building is Secure

The first precaution that you have to determine is to make sure that the building in which the fire has taken place is completely safe. Although you might be too impatient to get right to work on the smoke damage after the fire, this might not be in the best of your interests. This is because the fire that had ravaged the building might not be completely put out. In that case, you might be risking your life by being on the property.
Only after the representatives of the fire department have given you a clear signal and an assurance that the building is, in fact, safe, you can take the next step to start the cleanup and the restoration procedure for the building. If the fire was small and was handled without the help of any firefighters, you have to make sure that the source of the fire has been completely extinguished and then there is no possibility of a re-ignition.

Protective Gear

Any cleanup procedure necessitates the requirement of protective gear because almost always there will be some contact with toxic chemicals in the course of the job. This is especially true when you are dealing with the soot left behind by a fire. Soot particles are notorious for being released in the air right after the fire, which can cause irritation to your eyes and your skin, and might even be inhaled, aggravating respiratory problems. Moreover, the chemicals that are used in smoke damage mitigation can be just as hazardous as the remnants of the fire itself.
Make sure that you wear clothes that cover as much of your skin as possible. Wear long trousers, shirts with long sleeves, shoes and other articles of clothing that will give you enough protection against these chemicals. Make sure to also wear your gloves so that your hands are not exposed to the chemicals. Additionally, a face mask or a respirator is essential to help filter out the chemicals and the soot from the air that you are going to inhale. Other than that, you can also use protective eyewear to safeguard yourself against any soot or splashes of liquid chemical cleaners out of your eyes.

Ensure Ventilation

Once you have received the green signal from the firefighters or once you have ensured that the space in which the fire took place is safe, you would have to go to the building’s HVAC system and turn it off so that the smoke and the soot particles and not disseminated throughout the building. This would guarantee that the damage is not going to be spread across the building.

If you have had a fire incident in your building and would like to hire the services of a fire restoration company, you can rely on the name of Icon Restoration for assistance.