Cleaning after a fire

Fire is an incredibly bitter accident that can take a lot, especially when a fire occurs in a living room. If you are lucky to remain intact, and the fire did not have time to cause huge damage, you will have to start cleaning. But there are many nuances, so you need to know how to clean after a fire? This is exactly what will be discussed.

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What tools are needed?

Before you begin cleaning in the room, you must protect yourself from all sorts of harmful substances that filled the room after a fire. Before you wash the soot, you should definitely wear:

• gloves - on your hands;
• on face - a gas mask or special respirator;
• on the hair - bandage or kerchief.

Important! Choose the oldest clothes that you can smudge in soot without any regrets, and then throw them away. But choose one that will surely cover your legs and arms.

The following tools can help you clean the room of soot and soot:

• powerful vacuum cleaner;
• plastic bowl;
• rags - the more they will be, the better;
• broom;
• special chemical sponges, which are designed for cleaning rooms after a fire;
• spatula;
• hard brushes;
• brush - about 30 mm wide;
• roller, and of course, the tray for it.

Also, you will definitely need some chemicals, which we will tell you about later.

Important! If you have the opportunity, open absolutely all the windows and doors in order to create a draft - so the fumes will quickly leave the room.

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The first stage: get rid of all the garbage

Unfortunately, after a fire a large number of items become unusable. If the furniture is charred or burnt, you will not be able to save it. You must collect all such garbage and take it out of the affected premises. This will make you a double benefit:

• will understand how large the damage is;
• cleaning after a fire will be easier, because unnecessary objects will not interfere.

Never rush to throw carpets, paths and curtains from the apartment, which are not affected by the fire. Even if they have a disgusting smell, they can still be saved:

• soot from the curtains, as well as curtains, is usually removed after thorough washing;
• carpets and paths can be cleaned.

Important! Be sure to remember that books absorb the smell of burning quite well, which you will not be able to eliminate. Unfortunately, many of them you will have to discard.

In addition to the garbage are:

• burnt wallpaper, which must be removed from the walls with a spatula;
• various plastic interior decorations, such as: skirting boards, cornices and so on.

Important! If your furniture is just soaked with the smell of burning, you can take it outside and leave it there for airing. Although in most cases, the smell of burning is absorbed too deeply into the skin or wood, so you can get rid of this smell only with the help of specialists.

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Second stage: dry cleaning

Substantial cleaning after a fire must begin with dry cleaning. In case the floor is relatively clean, then make sure to cover it with ordinary film, closing the joints with adhesive tape. Only after this operation and the main part begins:

1. Completely clean the ceiling and walls of paint or wallpaper residues.
2. Take a powerful vacuum cleaner in order to clean the soot from the surfaces of the entire room. Pay special attention to various gaps.
3. Use a hard brush or broom to sweep all dirt on the floor, working perpendicular to the floor with sharp movements.

Important! Try not to rub soot over the surface of the walls, otherwise - it will no longer be possible to eliminate it from the room.

1. Further cleaning is done with the help of special chemical sponges - these sponges are impregnated with a special composition that helps to remove traces of burning and soot. Work from top to bottom, cutting off the surface of the sponge layer by layer, as it becomes dirty and becomes unusable.

This all dry cleaning of the apartment ends. You can start washing.

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The third stage: cleaning the room

At this stage you will need:

• containers, in which you will collect water;
• special detergents;
• rags.

As detergent, you can use:

• liquid detergent for washing dishes;
• ordinary soda - mix 2 tbsp.l.soda with 2 tbsp.warm water;
• if you need to wash soot off the metal, the special wash is perfect - MAZBIT +;
• wash soot from the whitewashed ceiling, laminate, plastic will help medical or technical alcohol;
• to restore the tree, useful grinding machine, although a slight plaque can be cleaned with sand.

What to do:

1. Flush soot from the walls with light movements from top to bottom, while you have to change the solution a few times to a new one.
2. Repeat this procedure several times.
3. With a hard brush that is dampened in the detergent, you can thoroughly wash the soot.

Important! Remember that wet cleaning must go only after the completion of dry, when the main dirt will be eliminated with a vacuum cleaner and brush.

If you immediately begin to wash the room, you simply rub the soot in the surface and can not ever get rid of it.

To complete the wet cleaning, you must:

• treat the walls with a sealant to neutralize the stale soot;
• then apply a primer to the surface.

Important! To my great regret, not always even a particularly thorough washing, as well as airing the apartments completely and completely helps to get rid of the stale smell of burning. Most often, an additional step is required to purify the air.

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Fourth stage: air purification

There are various tactics by which cleaning after a fire gives a certain result of fresh air and removal of the smell of burning.

Professional method

Cleaning firms clean air with ozonizers. You can take this device for rent - this service is offered by a rather large number of companies.

Important! Ozone - one of the most powerful disinfectants, which very quickly cleans all objects in the room after a fire.

It's quite simple to use it:

1. You just have to enable it.
2. Then leave for a certain time - from a few hours to one week, depending on how badly the unpleasant odor is ingested.

Simple ways of

If the ozonizer is not available for some reason:

1. Try a pot of warm water put on a stove, and then leave them to puff for several hours.
2. Along the entire perimeter of the apartment hang enough thick towels, which you must first impregnate with diluted with water vinegar. And do not forget that they need to be changed at regular intervals.
3. You can include warm or hot water in the bathroom and open the door wide.

Tool for burning yourself

Another method to eliminate the smell of burning from the apartment is to make a special chemical composition. For him you should take the following ingredients:

• 40 g of ordinary baking soda;
• 40 ml of 10% ammonia;
• 40 ml of hydrochloric acid;
• is a sturdy glass container.

Preparation of a solution:

1. Put soda in a glass container, and then add ammonia.
2. Stir the mixture thoroughly, but gently.
3. Gradually add hydrochloric acid.

Important! Soon you will see how from your tank a dense white vapor or smoke is rising. It is ammonium chloride, it excellently eliminates odors from the premises. Leave the resulting solution for a day, and then carefully ventilate the apartment.

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Why do I need to clean cleaning companies?

Cleaning of the affected premises after a fire is the very case when the desire to spend all cleaning with your own hands is not entirely appropriate and ineffective. Whatever efforts you make, specialists from cleaning companies will cope with cleaning much more efficiently and quickly:

1. They have a lot of experience in fighting against the consequences of a fire.
2. They can quickly determine the extent of damage that was caused by the fire and the possibility of recovering some damaged property.
3. Cleaning companies have special high-performance equipment and reagents. Their use requires special training, which is why private individuals are completely inaccessible. Special tools can significantly speed up cleaning, with much higher quality. For example, you can count on an excellent result without breaking your head over what to wash soot off the metal, plastic, concrete, wood.
4. Specialists from the cleaning company will independently take out the garbage, clean the remaining furniture, carpets, even small things, and properly prepare the room for further repairs.

Of course, the fire and so entails losses, and additional costs are not very desirable here. But if you want to forget about a terrible accident as soon as possible and start restoring coziness in your home, it's better to ask specialists for help. It will be easier for you both physically and mentally.