Four Ways to Clean Belongings After a Fire

12/17/2018 (Permalink)

Stuffed animal before and after.

Watching your Alexandria, Pineville or Ball home burn can leave you with an ache in your heart. Not only do you have to deal with a massive insurance claim, but there's a good chance you'll end up losing some of your treasured possessions. When you work with a residential fire damage cleanup crew, some of your smoke-damaged belongings may get saved. Content cleaning is a delicate art that can take the following shapes.

1. Dry-Cleaning: Clothes, furniture and other porous items often have to be cleaned with a dry-cleaning method. This helps remove the smoke and soot that built up during the fire. If you try to wash your clothes on a normal cycle, you may end up causing more damage. The soot has to be removed from the textiles before you can return to a typical cleaning method.

2. Wet cleaning is an effective cleaning method for removing moderate to heavy residues. For items that can’t withstand wet cleaning we can spray and wipe. 

3. Foam cleaning can be used for upholstery fabrics that might shrink or bleed if wet cleaned.

4. Abrasive cleaning involves agitation of the surface being cleaned.

5. Odor Removal: Smoke isn't the only thing that can cling to your possessions. The odor after a fire can be a long-term reminder of what you went through. After cleaning methods have been put in place, you may want to do some sort of odor removal too. Professionals often use thermal fogging or ozone/hydroxyl treatments to rid your home of the funky smell.

After a fire, you want to get everything back to normal as soon as possible. This means you need to clean your belongings. If the cleaning process takes longer than expected, you can also use content storage to get your dirty, smelly items out of the house until they're clean.

Learn more about Alexandria, Pineville or Ball.