There are many ways through which your house can be affected by smoke and soot. For example, after a fire is put out in one area of your house, it can leave the whole home smelling of smoke, which can be detrimental to your health and that of your family members. Other sources of smoke, such as smoke from burnt food or cigarette smoke, can be unpleasant to inhale; therefore, knowing the proper methods to get rid of this smoke can keep your house smelling fresh even after a smoke accident. Here are a few ways you can use to clean out smoke from your home.
Aerate Your Home
This includes tasks such as opening all the doors and windows of your house to get rid of lingering cigarette smoke and light smoke odors.
Using Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal can be used to purify unclean air; setting out a few bowls of it in the house can help get rid of smoke and any other foul odors inside the house. If it’s cigarette smoke or a small amount of smoke, you can also use coffee grinds and baking soda to absorb the smoky odor.
Conduct a Deep Clean
If you recently put out a large fire in one of the rooms in your house, you may want to conduct a smoke damage cleanup exercise. The furniture in your other rooms likely absorbed the smell of smoke and thus may require a deep upholstery cleaning to get rid of the smell of smoke. Wash out all the laundry that came in contact with the smoke with some baking soda added to the cleaning water.
Scrub Your Walls With Vinegar
To get rid of smoke from furniture surfaces such as kitchen cabinets, soak a towel in some vinegar and scrub the surface with it. Use this technique on your walls and ceilings if they also stink of smoke. Let the vinegar dry on your walls, and if the smell persists, consider repainting the room.
Steam Cleaning
This technique works well in removing smoke smells from heavy materials such as carpets. Steam cleaning your sofa sets and chairs can also help remove dust in addition to the smell of smoke. If you don’t own a steam cleaner, you can hire a cleaning service to do the job for you at a small fee.
While these DIY smoke removal techniques work well for small smoke damage, you would enlist the help of a professional if the smell of smoke persists even after trying out all of the above-listed methods.