Common Items in the Home Affected by Smoke Damage in Santa Barbara
Smoke damage in Santa Barbara may not completely show for some time. The smoke gets deep into the walls and the flooring. It affects many items slowly, and it can spread around the house, even into rooms where there wasn’t any trace of the fire or smoke.
So, you need to understand more about smoke damage and what it affects. This will help you ensure all the damage is gone when it happens. Here are the most common items in the home affected by smoke damage.
Carpets, Rugs, Curtains, and Upholstery
If you have anything that’s made of fabric, you will find that smoke damage in Santa Barbara immediately affects them. You can usually see the damage as everything is discolored from the smoke.
The problem is that dealing with the damage can be tricky. You need to get rid of all traces of the smoke before the damage takes hold. And you’ll need to look out for any signs of damage from heat, water, and chemical agents used to put out the fire. Experts will be able to make suggestions so you don’t have to replace everything.
Clothing
Soot will stick to clothing and many fabrics around the home. They need to be cleaned through proper techniques to get rid of all the soot so that the clothing isn’t stained permanently. The good news is clothing is a little easier to deal with than your carpets and drapes since you can put them in washing machines and put the products directly on them.
Sometimes, you may find that the soot hasn’t discolored items because of the darkness of the fabric. In this case, you may overlook the damage. You’ll feel it via irritation in the skin or smell it through an odor on the clothing. Talk to a dry cleaner to see if they can help with this.
Furniture and Appliances
The items around your home will succumb to smoke damage in Santa Barbara. You’ll need to take steps to remove all signs of the smoke damage, whether it’s from porcelain, plastic, wood, or even metal.
The smoke will corrode metal, causing it to rust. Paints and wood stains are damaged through discoloration, and you’ll smell the scent of the soot.
Smoke can get into the electrical system of appliances, so you will need to have them checked out and tested by professionals to make sure they are in good working order. If you have had a fire in the home, firefighters will sometimes want to do an inspection before a place is deemed habitable again. This will include a test on your electrical system and your appliances. The last thing you need is another fire.
Fighting the fire is just the first stage of getting your home back. Smoke damage in Santa Barbara is something that can take weeks or months to show up as a problem. Make sure you have someone in immediately after the fire to tackle any damage and get your home back to normal.