Fire Damage Technicians In Phoenix Explain Different Types Of Smoke Residues

5/24/2018 (Permalink)

Phoenix Smoke & Fire Damage? Contact SERVPRO for Cleanup, Restoration, and Odor Removal

The Nature of Soot and Smoke Dictate the Cleanup Method Utilized by SERVPRO for Phoenix Area Properties

Whenever a fire burns at your residence in Phoenix, heat, flames, and smoke can all damage items and cause problems. Building materials close to the source of the burn can suffer charring and heat damage. Smoke created by particles that do not entirely combust can travel throughout a building leaving behind, soils, soot residues, and unpleasant smells.

Residues vary according to what fuels burned in the fire. When restoring fire damage in Phoenix, multiple cleaning methods get implemented to remove the different types of soils. Other factors change the kind of residues that exist on surfaces after a burn including the rate of combustion and the amount of oxygen present during the fire.
 
Structural burns create smoke that is either wet, dry or a combination of the two. Many blazes generate various amounts of wet and dry smoke during different phases of the fire. The two types of smoke have different properties. Therefore our SERVPRO technicians utilize several techniques when cleaning.
 
Generally, soot residues left behind by wet smoke is more challenging to remove. Wet smoke is created when oxygen-starved, slow-burning fires, and smoldering take place. Synthetic materials such as foam, plastic, or rubber also tend to create wet smoke.
 
Wet smoke contains a higher number of aerosols such as varnishes, solvents, and other liquid components. With slow-burning fires, wet smoke does not get pulled by heat. Wet smoke can travel further and into deep cracks and crevices where smoke from a fast burning fire would not have gone.
 
Many times contents that get affected by wet smoke get ruined and must be replaced. Wet smoke can permanently discolor plastic items. Aerosols inside the smoke can penetrate and permanently stain finished surfaces. Wet smoke can also penetrate deep into unfinished surfaces causing permanent damage. For these reasons thermal fogging, when possible, recreates the path of the circulated smoke and soot and combines and neutralizes the odors inherent in these particles.
 
Materials that got affected by dry smoke during a blaze are the areas where cleaning and restoring is possible. Dry smoke is created when fires that burn natural materials like wood get plenty of oxygen and burn fast and hot. Dry smoke contains fewer aerosols and consists of dry particles that can be wiped of using dry sponges or water-based chemicals.
 
The combination of the two kinds of smoke change what can be saved with cleaning and what cannot. Call SERVPRO of Central Phoenix at (602) 386-4268 24/7 for a professional solution.

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