We Can Handle Any Size Fire Damage Disaster And Restore Your Home

9/24/2020 (Permalink)

Cleaning Different Surfaces After Fire Damage

Fires deposit a lot of soot and other smoke debris on various surfaces. Most of this debris concentrates on walls and the ceiling of the property affected by the fire. When a fire burns, smoke-filled air rises because it is less dense than the cold air in the surroundings. This forces cooler air near the ceiling to flow downwards creating convection currents. This explains why most of the smoke residue settles on the ceiling and upper sections of the walls. By following the right procedures, removing such debris becomes easier.

Different approaches can help when cleaning fire damage. The method chosen might depend on the kind of finish on the surface. Typical finishes include paint, acoustic plaster, acoustic tile, textured plaster or metallic tile. Walls might also have fabrics, wallpaper, carpeting or flocking as covers but these are rarely used in ceilings. To ensure good results from the cleaning exercise, our SERVPRO technicians pretest the affected area for cleanability. We consider the soiling type to decide whether it requires wet or dry cleaning.

If a moderately soiled ceiling with non-greasy residue, dry cleaning is sufficient. This works for all types of ceiling materials. If there is heavy dry ash or medium-to-heavy oily residue on the ceiling, wet cleaning is the best. This method works well especially for metal and wood ceilings, or those with a paint finish. Our SERVPRO technicians also use peroxide active cleaning on textured, blown ceilings because highly aggressive wet cleaning can dissolve such finishes.

When choosing the cleaning process, it is crucial to put into account the steps that follow. If the surface requires repainting once the cleanup process is complete, the procedure followed is different from cleaning as a final step. When "cleaning for paint" our SERVPRO team focuses on removing all loose residues and neutralizing the acids in smoke deposits.

Cleaning a fire damaged property can be a tedious task. Call SERVPRO of Texarkana at (903) 832-4400 any time. We’re Faster to Any Size Disaster.