smoke odor

A fire is often one of the worst things a home or business owner can imagine happening to a property. But while fires can cause tremendous visible damage, there is another factor that can have bad long-term consequences if it is not addressed: smoke damage. Many people think that because smoke doesn’t burn items on a property, it’s not as bad as what fire damage can do, but smoke has multiple components that can put people at risk.

Here’s why smoke damage needs to be addressed…

Smoke Leaves Stains

The most common consequence of smoke damage that people think of is the visible marks smoke leaves. While many may not think of it as such, smoke is really just very tiny particles of burning matter. So when smoke makes contact with other items in a property, such as walls, ceilings, or furniture, those particles settle down and leave marks.

Many properties that have experienced fires show the results of smoke staining throughout the property, and this needs to be cleaned up to restore a property to its former condition.

Smoke Odor

The other obvious consequence of smoke damage is the lingering smell it leaves behind. People don’t need experience with fires to know this. Anyone that’s ever spent time in an environment where people smoke cigarettes indoors knows that smoke can penetrate and remain in items on the property.

Wood, in particular, is especially poor regarding odor retention for smoke. This is key to one of smoke’s biggest issues. The particles are so light and fine that they can get just about anywhere, including tiny nooks and crannies that are difficult to reach with ordinary means.

Smoke Leads To Corrosion

What many people don’t realize about smoke is that, depending on the material that has burned, there may also be slow-working acidic effects. This means that certain types of smoke, once they have settled down on materials like wood, plastic, or other substances and polymers, can slowly corrode and degrade the condition of those items as long as they are allowed to remain.

So for some types of smoke damage, not only is there a visible stain, but if left untreated, the smoke damage can even structurally weaken and erode items.

Smoke Toxicity

Even when natural substances like wood burn, they can leave behind unhealthy tar and carbon trace particles. Unfortunately, the risk of toxic exposure jumps dramatically with other items, such as plastics, chemicals, and other compounds that may have been in storage in a workshop setting.

Like mold, not addressing smoke damage means that people who come to a smoke-damaged property breathe in tiny particles they can’t see. Constant inhalation of enough smoke toxins can eventually have adverse effects on health. People may notice lung, sinus, and other respiratory symptoms that ramp up in severity as more time is spent in the area. Eventually, these can cause serious illnesses requiring extensive medical treatment. There may even be skin issues due to allergic reactions from contact with the smoke particles in the environment.

This is why smoke damage, even when the fire is put out, can cause long terms issues for any property. It needs to be addressed with professional clean-up.