Should Homeowners Paint Over Smoke Damaged Walls?

2/4/2021 (Permalink)

Minor Fires May Seem Easy to Clean Up but Professionals Are Recommended to Mitigate the Damage in San Mateo.

A fire doesn’t have to be a blazing inferno to cause damage to San Mateo homes. Smoke can spread throughout the home, quickly impacting areas that have no direct fire damage. 

Isn’t Painting the Walls a Quick Fix?

A small trash can fire that gets extinguished fast can leave smoke residue on walls. Homeowners may think a quick wipe down can clean the soot. Then it is a simple matter of repainting. But that may not be the best choice. Using the wrong product can cause further damage. Painting over the sheetrock may not remove smoke odors. Calling a professional fire damage restoration company in San Mateo to handle the problem is the better choice.

What Gets Done in the Case of Sheetrock?

Anytime we are called out to assess a fire-damaged home, our technicians carefully inspect ceilings and walls. Because there are different types of smoke residues, they must determine which type they are dealing with. Adding to the challenge is that there can be more than one type involved in a fire. The four types of smoke residue include:

• Wet smoke 
• Dry smoke 
• Protein smoke
• Fuel oil smoke

Each of these requires a unique cleaning process, so it is vital to know which kind is present. The smoke that has settled onto surfaces is known as soot. It has a very strong odor. If it has settled onto the sheetrock and you paint over it without removing the contaminant properly, you can trap the smell. Our technicians perform tests to ascertain the soot type. They then clean the surface with the appropriate cleaning products.

Using Sealants

The particulates can become embedded in the sheetrock, and typical cleaning methods alone do not work. Sealants may be used in this case. The sealants encapsulate the odors in a way that covers the foul odors. Priming and painting can take place after that.

Contact SERVPRO of San Mateo at 650-931-6060 for professional fire damage restoration. We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster.