Smoke damage is the lingering aftereffect of a house fire. When you experience a fire, no matter how big or small, smoke particles can permeate the fabrics and fibers in your home, leaving a smell and causing further damage to your home’s contents.
Some products work better than others in cleaning. Professional fire damage restoration companies use a variety of cleaners that will help remove smoke stains and odors from your home. One of the the more common, and effective tools, is ozone.
Ozone is a colorless, unstable toxic gas that chemically reacts with particles it comes in contact with in the air and on surfaces. Because of the toxic nature of Ozone, it is HIGHLY recommended that you hire a certified and trained professional restoration service like Aladdin’s rather than attempting to use it yourself. However, you can buy products to use Ozone to clean your home after a fire if you choose.
Ozone works by attach itself to other molecules, chemically changing their structure to create non-offensive molecules, therefore eliminating the smell. It destroys the bacteria and spores that cause unpleasant smells. The ozone molecules attach to the outer shell of the cells of bacteria and spores, causing it to breakdown and die.
When using an ozone machine to remove repugnant odors, the stronger the odor – with more odor causing molecules- requires more ozone to remove the smell. There needs to be enough ozone to react with all of the odor-causing molecules it encounters. This will require either a longer ozone treatment, or higher concentrations of ozone (a larger ozone generator).
Ozone works so well because, as a gas, it can get where other cleaning products can’t. This can include air, walls, ductwork, ceilings, carpet fibers, the gaps between floor boards, and any other small space you can think of.
Ozone use is strictly regulated. Low levels of ozone can be found in air purifiers and is not harmful. But when you have a smoke filled home, the amount of ozone needed to do the job has to be monitored by a professional to avoid damage to human and animal respiratory systems.
This is where the professionals at Aladdin’s Cleaning & Restoration come in. We have portable ozone machines we can bring into your home after we have hand wiped all visible signs of soot and smoke.