Dealing with a home fire is emotional and then dealing with the aftermath is both emotional and stressful. There’s a lot of things you will be dealing with and can get clueless on what to do or where to start from. So, we have gathered some suggestions for you to help you out on how to clean up after a fire.
Tips on How to Clean up After a Fire
So, if you are getting confused about where to start from… you can follow our guide. Our guide covers every process and great tips to clean a house after a fire and restore it to life again. So, without any further ado let’s jump into the guide.
Clean the exterior of the house
You have to start cleaning from the exterior of your house. Before cleaning makes sure it is structurally in a good state.
For cleaning the exterior walls use a power washer to clean the ashes, soot etc. If you don’t have a power washer you can use a brush too.
Start cleaning from the top of your home. If you feel you cannot clean all by yourself you can take help from professional cleaners too. If needed, fix and restore walls and then paint the exterior of the house. Make sure you get your full house checked by professionals if it’s safe to live.
Inspect the house and assess damage
First things first, before entering into a house after a fire let a professional team make sure it’s safe enough to enter. The house may have internal damages, electrical problems during the fire so it is not safe to enter right away after the fire stops. If the house is considered to be safe to enter, wear protective clothes, hand gloves, eye goggles and good shoes before entering. And, if it is considered to be unsafe, take help from the professionals to fix it and then clean the house.
Start cleaning the interior of the house
Now as you have entered the house you may get very emotional looking at your house in the first place. Hold all your emotions and make up your mind to start cleaning. If the damage looks extensive, hiring a professional cleaner would be a wise choice.
However, if it’s not that extensive you can start cleaning and to start with look for the items that are totally damaged and cannot be used at all. One by one take all the debris and damaged items out from your house. Mostly look for the electronic items that are totally burnt because those cannot be used anymore. If you remove the damaged things it will get easier to clean the house as a lot of space will get free.
The next step is to clean all the ashes and anything that is wet. Before starting this step I would recommend removing all the standing water first. You can use a vacuum cleaner for this purpose. To get rid of the smoke odour open all the windows of your house. Now look for the things that got wet, take all outside and just keep altogether to later decide what to do with those. For removing the ashes you can use a vacuum cleaner again. It is very effective when it comes to cleaning from corners that are hard to reach.
Now, you have to start removing the ashes, soot from the walls, cabinets and other furniture. For this I would recommend a simple solution which will help to clean in an effective way. Take something which can hold 1-gallon water then mix 2-3 tablespoons of dishwasher and 1 cup chlorine bleach. Mix it properly and use a cloth to start cleaning. Make sure you are wearing a hand glove the whole time while cleaning. If your furniture and cabinets are wooden you can clean them using an oil soap. House cleaning after a fire may take a good amount of time so you have to keep enough patience.
Read: How to survive a forest fire in a vehicle?
For cleaning the floors and tile surfaces properly you can wipe those with a mixture of warm water, bleach and dishwasher soap. It will help to get rid of the spots and reduce the risk of mold as well. If the soots or spots don’t leave you can leave the mixture over those spots for some time and then use a microfiber cloth to clean it. In this way the spot is supposed to clean off.
After you are done cleaning with the mixture now wash the surface with clean water again using a mop. You can also use a sponge to rinse water from the floors. Don’t repaint your house the same day, allow it to dry properly. Till then look for the items you kept outside and decide whether you want to keep or throw them away. Make sure to dust and wash all the items before using them.
If your house is all clean and fully dry, repaint your house. Rearrange all your furniture again and if needed buy some new furniture. If your house still has the smoke odor you can do the thermal fogging which helps to get rid of the smoke odor. Keep your windows open all the time for air circulation.
Restore the electric appliances
After painting your house now restore all-electric appliances again. Make sure you get rid of the old electric wires and every appliance for safety purposes. If you feel like some appliances can be used make sure to check those by an electrician before using them.
Final Words…
I hope after reading this guide you now know how to clean a house after a fire and where to start from. One tip I would like to tell in the very last part of the guide is to manage all the tools of cleaning before starting the cleaning process. Be patient, careful while cleaning the house and the end result will make you happy, trust me. You will no longer be emotional or sad about the fire once your house is all cleaned up.
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