Addressing The Different Types of Soot Particles During Fire Damage Restoration in Monroe

6/1/2022 (Permalink)

Smoke and soot cleanup needed following a fire in a Monroe home? Don't DIY, get the experts from SERVPRO, "Like it never even happened."

Monroe Fire Damage Cleanup

When a fire damage incident takes place on your property, different types of smoke residues result. Some kinds of smoke particles are difficult to clean when compared to other types. The most common types of soot residues that we encounter when attending such events in Monroe are wet soot residues, dry soot particles, protein soot residues, and fuel oil soot particles.

Our SERVPRO technicians have a good understanding of the various stages of combustion and the kind of fire damage they cause on your Monroe property. Most fires generate both dry and wet smoke - with the production of the two being in different proportions. Since we end up with different kinds of residues, we have to use several cleaning techniques during the restoration process. From experience, it is easier to clean dry smoke than wet smoke. The amount of oxygen present during combustion, the items the fire burns as well as the combustion rate determines whether soot particles are dry or wet.

The rate of combustion is faster when there is sufficient oxygen and such incidents produce dry smoke. On the other hand, the production of wet smoke occurs in slow-burning incidents where the quantities of oxygen are low. In most cases, natural items such as paper, natural fibers, wood, and cork produce dry smoke while synthetic materials such as foam rubber, and plastics produce wet smoke.

Dry soot particles do not heavily stain surfaces and carry few deposits. It means our SERVPRO team uses less aggressive cleaning methods during the restoration process. There are a lot of aerosols and deposits in wet smoke, which means it moves slowly and has sufficient time to penetrate into enclosed areas such as crevices – something which is unlikely to happen during a faster burning fire. It is difficult to restore items after exposure to this type of smoke.

SERVPRO of Monroe / West Monroe has the expertise and training to handle your residential and commercial restoration needs. Call us at (318) 345-5121 and benefit from our industry-proven cleaning and restoration services.