Initial Odour Suppression and Knock Down
ULV Fog a 1:4 solution of Smoke & More on to all surfaces that are compatible with water.
Treat all horizontal surfaces with Unsmoke COC (Crystal Odour Counteractant) by liberally spreading them around the room.
Do not apply the COC directly to furniture, finished wood or plastic surfaces. Put the COC on to paper plates and place them on or near the surfaces.
Cleaning Smoke Damaged Carpets
The less time the soot has had to set, the better. If it’s had a long time to set, you could be in deeper water than you thought. Moisture combines with the soot particles to create acid compounds. Over time it can discoloUr carpet dyes so be sure to find out how long the mess has been there before you accept the job
Unfortunately, after all the soot from the fire has settled into the carpet, it gets walked on by fire fighters, owners, insurance adjusters, friends and neighbours and, yes, even you. All this traffic serves to grind the soot particles further into the carpet, making your job that much harder. To make an even lovelier situation, carpet manufacturers are offering lighter carpet colours these days, which means it’s far less forgiving in restoration situations.
Cleaning Carpet
- Dry vacuum the carpet thoroughly. It’s important to do this as soon as possible in order to avoid having further traffic over the carpet to grind the soot in even more. Fine soot residue can act a lot like pigment dye and bind to the carpet fibres. Get them out as quickly as you can while dry, if possible.
- Test-clean an area of carpet that has the worst damage. This will determine the outcome of the entire job. If you can get it clean there, you should be able to clean the entire carpet. The carpet will require aggressive cleaning. The use of a scrubber to agitate your cleaning solution is advisable to ensure a superior result.
- Clean. You may have to do this job twice: once before other restoration work begins and once after it’s finished. This can be justified in the eyes of most insurance companies because it can mean the difference between cleaning at $5 per metre or replacing the carpet at many times that cost.
- Apply a protective treatment. This will help to ease the client’s fears that the carpet won’t be as good as it was before the fire.
- As long as soot and ash has been cleaned from all of the other surfaces you can use air movers to dry the carpet. While the carpet is drying, use a Hot Fogger to fog a little thermal fog into the air. This will spread deodorant fog into the nooks and crannies of the room to effectively neutralize odours that may be coming from them but get blamed on the carpet. A Vaportek machine and ozone machines are particularly effective at neutralising odours that have penetrated porous surfaces. The Vaportek odour control system provides immediate odour neutralisation in situations where other methods have failed (See Blog on Vaportek)
Cleaning Upholstery
Testing and experience will dictate the proper formula for the degree of soil and type of upholstery you are dealing with. Stick to your regular formulas where possible. Add CitraBoost and Smoke & More to your pre-spray and Smoke & More to your to your extraction rinse.
Cleaning Walls and Wet Cleanable Surfaces
If walls do not need to be repainted, wipe the soot off with dry chemical sponges. After dry soot has been removed spray the wet cleanable surfaces with Fire Power or Vission with Smoke & More added. Start from the bottom up. Use a clean folded terry cloth towel to wipe the wall clean.
Wood, Tile and Grout,
Carpet Cleaners Warehouse can show you how to repair, clean and refinish and restore wood floors and furniture with the use of Bridgepoint Wood Products. Tile, grout & stone can be effectively cleaned and sealed using the Tile & Grout Hard Surface Cleaning System.
