Cleaning after a fire

A fire is an incredibly bitter incident that can take a lot, especially when a fire occurs in a residential building. If you are lucky to remain intact, and the fire did not have time to do huge damage, you will have to start cleaning. But there are many nuances, so you need to know how cleaning should be done after a fire? This is what will be discussed.

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What tools are needed?

Before you start cleaning the premises, you must protect yourself from all kinds of harmful substances that filled the premises after a fire. Before washing the soot, you must wear:

• gloves - on the hands;
• on the face - a gas mask or a special respirator;
• on the hair - a bandage or scarf.

Important! Choose the oldest clothes that can be smeared in soot without regrets, and then discarded. But choose one so that it necessarily covers your legs and arms.

The following tools can help you clean the room from soot and soot:

• powerful vacuum cleaner;
• a plastic bowl;
• rags - the more they will be, the better;
• broom;
• special chemical sponges that are designed to clean rooms after a fire;
• putty knife;
• hard brushes;
• brush - approximately 30 mm wide;
• roller, and of course, a tray for him.

Also, you will definitely need some chemicals, which we will tell you about later.

Important! If you have the opportunity, open absolutely all windows and doors in order to create a draft - in this way the burner will leave the room faster.

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The first stage: we get rid of all garbage

Unfortunately, after a fire, a large number of objects become unusable. If the furniture is charred or charred, you will not be able to save it. You must collect all such garbage and take it out of the affected premises. You will do double benefit of this:

• Understand how widespread the damage is
• cleaning after a fire will be easier, because excess objects will not interfere.

Never rush to throw carpets, paths and curtains out of an apartment that have not been damaged by a fire. Even if they have a disgusting smell, they can still be saved:

• soot from curtains, as well as curtains, is usually cleaned after thorough washing;
• Carpets and paths can be dry cleaned.

Important! Be sure to remember that books absorb the smell of burning quite well, which you will not be able to eliminate. Unfortunately, you will have to throw away many of them.

Among other things, garbage includes:

• burnt wallpaper, which must be eliminated from the walls with a spatula;
• a variety of plastic interior decorations, such as: skirting boards, cornices and more.

Important! If your furniture is simply saturated with the smell of burning, you can take it outside and leave it there for ventilation. Although in most cases, the smell of burning is too deeply absorbed into the skin or wood, so you can get rid of this smell only with the help of specialists.

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Second stage: dry cleaning

Thorough cleaning after a fire must necessarily begin with dry cleaning. If the floor is relatively clean, then be sure to cover it with an ordinary film, covering the joints with adhesive tape.Only after this operation the main part begins:

1. Thoroughly clean the ceiling and walls of paint residues or wallpaper.
2. Take a powerful vacuum cleaner to clean soot from the surfaces of the entire room. Pay special attention to various gaps.
3. Using a stiff brush or broom, sweep away all dirt on the laid floor, working with sharp movements perpendicular to the floor.

Important! Try not to rub soot on the surface of the walls, otherwise it will be impossible to remove it from the room.

4. Further cleaning is done using special chemical sponges - these sponges are impregnated with a special composition that helps eliminate traces of burning and soot. Work from top to bottom, cutting off the surface of the sponge layer by layer, as it becomes dirty and becomes unusable.

That's all the dry cleaning of the apartment ends. You can start washing.

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Third stage: cleaning the room

At this stage, you will come in handy:

• containers in which you will collect water;
• special detergents;
• rags.

As a detergent, you can use:

• liquid dishwashing detergent;
• ordinary soda - mix 2 tbsp. l soda with 2 tbsp. warm water;
• if it is necessary to wash the soot from metal, a special wash - MAZBIT + is perfect;
• wash the soot from the whitewashed ceiling, laminate, plastic will help medical or technical alcohol;
• To restore the tree, a grinder is useful, although you can try to wipe off a slight coating with sand.

What to do about it:

1. Wash off soot from the walls with light movements from top to bottom, and you should change the solution several times a new one.
2. Repeat this procedure several times.
3. Using a stiff brush that is moistened with a detergent composition, you can thoroughly wash the soot.

Important! Remember that wet cleaning must only go after dry, when the main dirt has already been removed with a vacuum cleaner and brush.

If you immediately start washing the room, you simply rub soot into the surface and you can never get rid of it.

To complete wet cleaning, you must:

• treat the walls with sealant to neutralize the stubborn soot;
• then apply a primer to the surface.

Important! Unfortunately, it is not always even a particularly thorough washing, as well as airing the apartments as a whole and completely helps to get rid of the stubborn smell of burning. Most often, an additional step is needed to purify the air.

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The fourth stage: air purification

There are various tactics by which cleaning after a fire gives a definite result of the freshness of the air and the removal of the burning odor.

Professional method

Cleaning companies purify the air with the help of ozonizers. You can rent this device - quite a large number of companies offer this service.

Important! Ozone is one of the most powerful disinfectants, which very quickly cleans all objects in the room after a fire.

Using it is quite simple:

1. You should just turn it on.
2. Then leave it for a certain time - from several hours to one week, depending on how bad the odor is.

Simple ways

If the ozonizer is not available to you for any reason:

1. Try to put a pot of warm water on the stove, and then leave them to boil for several hours.
2. Hang dense towels around the entire perimeter of the apartment, which you must pre-soak with vinegar diluted with water. And do not forget that they need to be changed with a certain frequency.
3. You can include warm or hot water in the bathroom and open the door wide.

Do-it-yourself remedy for burning

Another method of eliminating the smell of burning from an apartment is to make a special chemical composition. For it you should take the following ingredients:

• 40 g of ordinary baking soda;
• 40 ml of 10% ammonia;
• 40 ml of hydrochloric acid;
• strong glass container.

Solution preparation:

1. Pour soda into a glass bowl, and then add ammonia.
2. Thoroughly but gently mix the mixture.
3. Gradually add hydrochloric acid.

Important! Soon you will see how dense white steam or smoke rises from your tank. This is ammonium chloride, it perfectly eliminates odors from rooms. Leave the resulting solution for a day, and then carefully ventilate the apartment.

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Why is it necessary to entrust cleaning companies with cleaning?

Cleaning the affected premises after a fire is the very case when the desire to do all the cleaning with your own hands is not entirely appropriate and ineffective. No matter what efforts you make, specialists from cleaning companies will cope with cleaning much more efficiently and faster:

1. They have great experience in fighting the effects of fire.
2. They can quickly determine the extent of damage that was caused by the fire and the possibility of restoring some damaged property.
3. Cleaning companies have special high-performance equipment and reagents. Their use requires special training, which is why they are completely inaccessible to private individuals. Special equipment can significantly speed up cleaning, with much higher quality. For example, you can count on an excellent result without racking your brains over how to wash soot from metal, plastic, concrete, wood.
4. Specialists from the cleaning company will take out the garbage on their own, clean the preserved furniture, carpets, even small things, and properly prepare the room for further repairs.

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Stock footage

Of course, a fire entails losses, and additional costs are not very desirable here. But if you want to forget about the terrible incident as soon as possible and begin to restore comfort in your home, it is better to turn to specialists for help. It will be easier for you both physically and mentally.