What to know about home smoke exposure

Smoke is one of the least understood parts of fire damage, and it’s also one of the most persistent. Long after the fire is out and the trucks have gone, smoke can still be affecting your home – and your health – even if you can’t see it.

Here’s what to know about smoke damage (and what to do about it).

Smoke travels farther than you’d expect

Smoke doesn’t stay in the room where it started, and it isn’t contained by closing a door or opening a window. It moves through doorways, hallways, and open stairwells, but also through the openings most of us never think about, like cracks in walls, gaps around plumbing fixtures and electrical lines, and HVAC ductwork. 

If an HVAC system is running while smoke is being produced, the blowers can distribute soot to every room the ducts reach, including rooms nowhere near the source of the smoke. That means a space’s proximity to the fire isn’t a reliable predictor of how much damage it will receive.

Once visible smoke clears, residue remains

Just because the smoke in the air is gone doesn’t mean the space is clean. Even after active smoke has been cleared, soot and the chemical compounds it carries settle onto surfaces and absorb into porous materials like curtains, carpets, upholstery, clothing, drywall, and insulation. From there, they can continue to off-gas and release odor for weeks, months, or years if they aren’t properly cleaned.

Material factors

The type of material of affected items makes a big difference. Fast, high-temperature fires fueled by wood and paper tend to leave a dry, powdery soot that sits closer to the material’s surface. Meanwhile, slower, smoldering fires involving plastics, foams, and other synthetics produce a heavier, greasier residue that penetrates materials more deeply (and takes more work to remove).

Environmental factors

Conditions inside the home matter, too. Increased heat and humidity can cause materials to expand and release trapped smoke compounds more quickly, which is why lingering odors often come back stronger even weeks or months after the fire has happened. And because smoke residue is acidic, the longer it remains on surfaces, the more damage it can do.

What to do after a fire

Wait for the all-clear

First, confirm with firefighters that it’s safe to re-enter your home. Then contact your insurance company to file a claim and ask about available resources like temporary housing.

Wear appropriate protection gear

If you need to re-enter your home, wear a well-fitted N95 mask or respirator as well as gloves, safety goggles, a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, socks, and close-toe shoes. This will help protect your skin, eyes, and airways from ash or toxic chemicals that may be off-gassing.

Ventilate the area (but check outside first)

When the outdoor air is clear, ventilate your home by opening doors and windows. (If it’s still smoky outside, wait.) Have your HVAC ducts cleaned before running the system again so you’re not pushing soot back through the house, and change your HVAC filter monthly until the odor is completely gone.

Call someone you trust to take care of the cleanup

We recommend calling a professional mitigator for advice before attempting any DIY cleanup. Soot and smoke residue can be hazardous to inhale, and using the wrong cleaning products or techniques can set residue permanently or push it deeper into materials, making the damage harder and more expensive to restore. (If you do attempt any cleanup before professional help arrives, don’t dry-sweep or dust, as it will put settled particles right back into the air you’re breathing. Damp cloths are the safer choice!) 

And one more thing, because we’ve seen this before: be cautious of contractors who show up uninvited at your door selling cleanup and restoration services in the days after a fire. Reputable companies don’t need to find you that way!

The bottom line for homeowners

Smoke damage is rarely limited to what you can see, and it doesn’t resolve on its own. When you’re ready, call us for an assessment. We’ll answer your questions and walk you through the cleanup process so you know exactly what to expect.