How is Soot Damage Cleaned?

How is Soot Damage Cleaned?

Smoke damage can be detrimental to a home, but what many people don’t consider is the damage from soot that can occur. Soot is the physical particles from smoke that stick to walls and upholstery. If a fire has occurred in your home but has not caused much damage, it is still important to check the rest of your home for soot. That’s where we come in! We can professionally detect and clean soot from your home.

What Is Soot?

what is soot damage
Major fire damage to house in RI.

Soot is made up of multiple materials such as foams, fabrics, paint, plastics, wool, wood, coal, oils, or other synthetic fibers. The particles are extremely small, even smaller than sand granules! Soot forms when these materials aren’t completely combusted during a fire or when your furnace, water heater, or boiler puffs back. There are multiple types of soot (or multiple conditions to soot):

Dry soot is the type of soot that occurs during a very hot fire. It is difficult to clean and can cause more damage to surfaces versus other types of soot.

Wet soot occurs with low-heat fires and usually contains plastics and rubbers. Its smell is extremely pungent and can be easily detected visibly.

Oily soot comes from puff backs and goes everywhere. The puffback will cause the smoke and soot to spread everywhere so it is important to keep your gas or oil furnace properly maintained.

Protein soot is extremely hard to detect but it does also have a pungent smell to it, This type of soot may discolor objects or the paint on your walls.

How Is Soot Damage In Your Home Cleaned?

We have a very thorough process when cleaning soot due to the dangers to you and your family’s health. In order to properly clean soot, we do the following:

air scrubber
Air scrubber used to purify the air.

Air scrubbers with HEPA filters are placed in the building and ducted to the exterior to purify the air.

chemical sponges
Chemical sponges can be used to remove soot damage properly.

Chemical sponges, also known as soot sponges, are used to test building materials to see if soot is present. Other companies do not use these sponges and aren’t able to get such precise results. Soot is not always present to the naked eye.

thermal fogger
A thermal fogger machine, used to clean the air from smoke

Thermal fogging is performed to clean the air and is an effective smoke odor remover because it recreates the fire-related properties of heat and pressurization. Porous materials pick up thermally activated deodorant droplets in the same manner in which they picked up the smoke odors, closely duplicating what occurs during a fire.

oder-x
Oder-x, one of the many types of cleaning products used in soot damage cleanup.

We use multiple cleaning products/deodorizers to clean hard surface items.


dust or soot containment

Proper containment is set up. To ensure any soot particles in the air do not contaminate any clean belongings.

soot and fire damage on items
Soot and fire damage on multiple items.

When soot affects your clothing or electronics, we partner with CRDN to make sure it is thoroughly cleaned. If it cannot be cleaned, we recommend that it be discarded and replaced.

What To Do If You Have Soot Damage?

Give us a call! We are available 24/7 and we will make sure to get someone out to your home as soon as possible to start the soot damage restoration process and return your home to pre-loss conditions. It is important to begin the restoration process as soon as possible as the structural integrity of your home may be jeopardized.

Do You Have Soot Damage In RI

Call us today for a free quote or to begin the soot damage restoration process.

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