After a fire one of the lingering reminders that will permeate through the entire house is the sharp smell of smoke and other burnt chemicals. It’s a smell that will remain until some sort of action is taken to get rid of it. Unfortunately, smoke odor is not a substance that can be easily removed because it permeates into every surface it comes in contact with. Air fresheners will only mask the odor and are largely ineffective over longer periods of time – the smoke odor will return when the effects of the air freshener wear off.
In order to perform an effective smoke damage remediation job you will require an odor counteractant. These products have been designed to do more than simply mask the smoke odors, they are active and work by introducing live bacterial cultures and free enzymes to attack the odor molecules to break them down completely.
There appear to be quite a lot of products that claim to be able to work as odor counteractants and they should be worth considering when faced with the prospect of having to start a fire damage restoration job.
Look at the JonDon Unsmoke 9D9 Odor Counteractant: this is a product to use for the initial suppression of charred and burned surfaces. You can also use it to clean walls, upholstery and carpet in conjunction with other cleaners. The counteractant is sprayed onto the surface affected by the smoke odor with a pressure sprayer or, if using it with the wall or furniture cleaning solutions it can be mixed as required. The dilution quantities advise to mix 1 to 3 ounces per gallon of lukewarm water. This is a product that has been made specifically for eliminating smoke odors during the process of conducting fire damage restoration.
Another product that looks as though it could perform a similar type of job is the Citrus Neutrox Odor Counteractant Concentrate which is a water soluble odor counteractant that works to destroy odor molecules produced by organic and non-organic sources. This is another product that can be diluted and used with other cleaners. According to the product MSDS sheet the product contains no hazardous ingredients so it is a stable product to use too.
These types of products are also often referred to as malodor counteractants and they are often used when dealing with other situations where unpleasant odors are common such as when working with cadavers, animals and bars and restaurants that are constantly filled with smoke odors.
Remember, if you are trying to clean up smoke damage and you have to attack the smoke odors that seem to have seeped into every surface in the house you will not be achieving anything by attempting to clean those surfaces with straight disinfectant and air fresheners.
Products like the odor counteractants mentioned above will break down the molecules producing the odor and give you the result you are hoping to achieve. When choosing the counteractant you will use try to go for a product that specifies it is odor-neutral. Sometimes the smell of the cleaner can be more overpowering than the odor that is being removed.
Showing posts with label odor removal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label odor removal. Show all posts
Odor Removal
The aftermath of a fire regardless of its size will always have one particular kind of result. Fire damage smell will always be a distinctive result of a fire thanks to the smoke that soaks into every crack and crevice that it comes in contact with. One aspect that will feature prominent in any home restoration, whether it’s a fire restoration or a water restoration, is the need to remove odor from the living space. Odor can arise from many origins such as smoke odor after a fire or a damp mildew odor following a flood. Following a disaster there may be contaminates brought in from outside.
No matter what the kind of odor removal is required, there are some basic principles that will be involved:
1. Remove the source of the odor.
2. Clean the affected surface or material.
3. Treat the surface with a penetrating counteractant.
4. Seal the surface that is being restored if possible.
When there is an odor coming from the carpet it’s a pretty good be that it signals the presence of mold or mildew in the carpet. When the carpet has become wet for one reason or another, such as not being properly dried after washing, the organisms can grow. There are a few simple solutions that can be tried using common household products to remove mold or urine odors from the carpet.
Baking soda is a very popular substance for use in removing odor. The reason why baking soda works is that it is composed of sodium carbonate and it’s this that actively eliminates the odors. White vinegar is another effective odor eliminator through the acidic nature which will kill the bacteria as it contacts it. Similarly lemon will work in much the same way as vinegar. The acid content of lemon will help to counteract the odor in a carpet.
These three products are also simple but effective methods of removing most pet odors from the house, including the odor of urine. Baking soda mixed with water and sprayed over a urine stain will neutralize the odor and will play a big part in cleaning the stain.
Smoke odor removal is another matter altogether. In this case we will talk about cleaning smoke odor following a house fire. During a fire the smoke particles tend to permeate all hard and soft surfaces, moving into the objects themselves where they are trapped, giving off a constant smoky odor long after the rest of the damage has been cleaned up.
To remove the smoke odor you have a number of options at your disposal. Firstly you will need to air out the room as completely as possible to remove as much of the residual smell as you can. It may be necessary to carry out a thermal fogging procedure which will send in purifying mist into the pores of the surfaces affected by the smoke, neutralizing the odor.
Alternatively, you might try using an Ionic Air Purifier which will work constantly to trap and remove odors from the room while releasing purified air back into the room. Some of these air purifiers feature a high-efficiency particle filter (HEPA) which is a very effective filter to use on solid particles.
No matter what kind of odor is plaguing your home, there is usually a simple and effective method for counter-acting it. Usually it is not necessary to go out and spend a lot of money on expensive wonder chemicals that claim to clean and freshen.
No matter what the kind of odor removal is required, there are some basic principles that will be involved:
1. Remove the source of the odor.
2. Clean the affected surface or material.
3. Treat the surface with a penetrating counteractant.
4. Seal the surface that is being restored if possible.
When there is an odor coming from the carpet it’s a pretty good be that it signals the presence of mold or mildew in the carpet. When the carpet has become wet for one reason or another, such as not being properly dried after washing, the organisms can grow. There are a few simple solutions that can be tried using common household products to remove mold or urine odors from the carpet.
Baking soda is a very popular substance for use in removing odor. The reason why baking soda works is that it is composed of sodium carbonate and it’s this that actively eliminates the odors. White vinegar is another effective odor eliminator through the acidic nature which will kill the bacteria as it contacts it. Similarly lemon will work in much the same way as vinegar. The acid content of lemon will help to counteract the odor in a carpet.
These three products are also simple but effective methods of removing most pet odors from the house, including the odor of urine. Baking soda mixed with water and sprayed over a urine stain will neutralize the odor and will play a big part in cleaning the stain.
Smoke odor removal is another matter altogether. In this case we will talk about cleaning smoke odor following a house fire. During a fire the smoke particles tend to permeate all hard and soft surfaces, moving into the objects themselves where they are trapped, giving off a constant smoky odor long after the rest of the damage has been cleaned up.
To remove the smoke odor you have a number of options at your disposal. Firstly you will need to air out the room as completely as possible to remove as much of the residual smell as you can. It may be necessary to carry out a thermal fogging procedure which will send in purifying mist into the pores of the surfaces affected by the smoke, neutralizing the odor.
Alternatively, you might try using an Ionic Air Purifier which will work constantly to trap and remove odors from the room while releasing purified air back into the room. Some of these air purifiers feature a high-efficiency particle filter (HEPA) which is a very effective filter to use on solid particles.
No matter what kind of odor is plaguing your home, there is usually a simple and effective method for counter-acting it. Usually it is not necessary to go out and spend a lot of money on expensive wonder chemicals that claim to clean and freshen.
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