Fire alarm shrieking in your ear? Your home can fill up with smoke in an instant from something as simple as a closed flue or burning popcorn. Cooking skills aside, if you notice that your home is frequently inundated by smoke, it’s time to get serious about ventilation. Poor ventilation resulting in a sudden build-up of smoke is more than a stressful inconvenience—it may cause odors to linger long past the smoke and it may even cause property damage!
Read on to learn how to clear a room of smoke and tips for quickly ventilating your home after a damaging event.
The Best Way to Clear Smoke Out of a House
It’s no secret, the sooner you’re able to address a damage-causing situation, the more likely you are to mitigate damage. This holds true for smoke damage: The faster you get the smoke out of a room, the lower the chances of property damage.
Follow these steps to clear smoke from a house, fast:
1) Locate and remove the source
It’s important to stay calm. If the smoke is caused by something on the stove, figure out whether there is a flame or just smoke.
If your food is burning, turn off the heat and cover the dish with a lid to suffocate the flame. If there is only smoke, you may have a grease fire. It’s important that you never pour water on smoking grease! Try to remove any source of heat. In a pinch, baking soda and other kitchen staples can be used to douse very small grease fires.
Similarly, if an appliance is smoking, unplug it and move any flammable materials away from it.
If smoke is coming in from your fireplace, carefully open the damper.
2) Take vulnerable persons outside
If you have small children or elderly family members in the home, or live with someone who has breathing difficulties, help them go outside as the smoke may make it difficult for them to breathe.
3) Open doors and windows
Once the source of the smoke is gone, get some fresh air into the room—ideally, in a way that creates a cross-breeze. Always check for pets before opening your doors and windows, as smoke alarms may cause animals to panic and run out of the house.
4) Set up fans to circulate air
Fans circulate air by pushing and pulling. Use multiple fans in a room to introduce fresh air from an open door or window and move that fresh air throughout the entire space.
5) Plug in an air purifier
High-quality air purifiers do an amazing job of capturing smoke and odors from the air. Select an air purifier with a HEPA filter for best results.
Remember, it’s important to act quickly to prevent smoke damage in your home.
How to Clear a Room of Smoke Once Damage Has Set In
The best way to clean smoke out of your home is to move or filter smoke out and circulate fresh air in. If it was not possible to circulate air in the space or if the amount of smoke was overwhelming, it’s likely that your home and its possessions may suffer from the effects of smoke damage.
If smoke smells are lingering hours, days or weeks after an event, it’s time to consider professional smoke damage restoration and odor removal. These processes successfully mitigate set-in smoke and odors, making your home more pleasant and reducing the risk of future health problems. Try to avoid temporary fixes like aerosol sprays and air fresheners.
It’s tempting to cover up the smoke smell with fragrance, but sprays may do more harm than good. These products don’t often meet expectations and are usually filled with toxic chemicals. Instead of remediating damage, they cover it up with other scents that are known to fade quickly.
Choose Rainbow Restoration for Smoke Damage Restoration and Odor Removal You Can Trust
While it’s tempting to think that a couple of smoke damage events are no big deal, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Smoke damage and the odors associated with it can cause health problems, make your home uncomfortable, and reduce your quality of life.
Concerned about lingering odors and smoke damage in your home or business ? Choose Rainbow Restoration® for professional fire and smoke damage restoration and odor remediation. Our trusted technicians will make your disasters disappear. Call (855) 724-6269 or request an appointment online to get started.
