Even a small kitchen fire can cause extreme damage to your home. Beyond the immediate danger of the fire, you will have to deal with smoke, soot, and water as well. Smoke can extend well beyond the location of the fire and cause damage to other areas of your home. You may find that months after you believe the fire damage restoration process to be completed, you are still finding items that smell like smoke. You can avoid this problem by making sure that you deal with the smoke damage while you work through the entire fire damage restoration process.

Before you begin cleaning your clothes and wiping down your walls, consider speaking to a professional and create a comprehensive restoration plan. Professional fire damage restoration companies will have the experience and knowledge in assisting your with smoke damage repair as well. Trying to put your life back together after a fire causes damage to your home can be very difficult and speaking to a professional may help you keep focus on the required tasks. Even if you decide to handle the repair process yourself, gaining the experience of professional will help you to move through the entire fire damage restoration process quickly.

Your first task you need to concentrate on is to start airing out your home. You need to bring in fresh air from outside your home and help move the smoke out. Even if the fire occurred during the winter, open the windows and rent several large fans to help get the smoke out of your home. Also, replace the filters on your heater and air condition several times during the entire fire damage restoration process. Your goal is to remove as much smoke and soot from the air as possible.

While your insurance company may not agree, the only way to get the smoke smell out of your home will be to clean everything. Items such as books and photos should be removed from your home and allowed to air out as much as possible. Once you have cleaned an item wrap it in plastic until you complete the entire fire damage restoration process. There is no need to return a clean item to a smoke infected area. You would be doing nothing but collecting more smoke on already cleaned items.

Depending on the extent of your the fire, you may discover articles that smell like smoke months and sometimes years after a fire. This is why it is important to clean everything and only return the items to your home after the fire damage restoration process is complete. You may need to rent a storage container to hold your belongings as they are taken out of your home and cleaned but it is important to not return clean items to your home until the smoke and soot is completely removed. Taking the time to throughly clean your belongings will help you move on from a fire quickly and can help you prevent smoke damage from being overlooked until your belongings are no longer useable because they smell so bad.