How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

[woodrat]

My wife's rental house in town was destroyed by fire Monday in the early AM. She and the girls escaped with their lives and the clothes on their backs, but now much else. It was a very close call; the house was an 1880's era house, with balloon framing and wood and wallpaper interior walls. It burned fast and hot.

What I am dealing with now is a lot of their salvaged clothes, especially my oldest daughter's very nice vintage clothes. I've washed everything once and dried it just to get it stable and not mildewing. But a lot of it, of course, still smells like smoke. Does anyone have any tricks for dealing with that? I know that a lot of the clothes are probably not worth the effort, but my teenager had some really nice stuff that she was pretty attached to. It would be really cool to save as much of that as I could for her.

anyone out there do this for a living? Anyone out there have to do this for themselves before?

Thanks!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

Add a cup of vinegar (plain old white vinegar) added to each load of wash will help as per my Mrs.

Glad no one was hurt. Our prayers are with you and your family.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

I worked for a fire restoration company for several years. We cleaned and painted homes damaged by fire and did the entire job required by the insurance company.With smoked up cloths we ALWAYS took them to a good dry cleaner and had them cleaned by pros.......really not an option.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

i ran mine thur the wash twice, before drying, and using the downy ball with twice the downy as recommended. but mine were not wet during the fire. just heavily smoke damaged.

 

[Devious]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

can't you just hang it on a line outdoors to air out? that what i always did with my turnout gear.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

No advice, but glad everyone got ouy OK.......​

 

[salty87]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

i'd suggest cleaners too. they'll have the right chemicals to get the smell out and not ruin the clothes.

renter's insurance?

 

[woodrat]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

Thanks for the hints. Hanging outside to air out won't work so well here because it has been raining for days. I did hang a couple of things out in the rain to get "pre washed" though. The nicer stuff of my daughter's will go to the dry cleaners, but the ordinary stuff I am going to try the vinegar on.

Renter's insurance is something that never even occurred to us. We have mostly been homeowners for the last 15 years, and just never even thought about renter's insurance. And never thought to add the second residence to our existing homeowner's policy either.

Things like electronics and kitchen stuff and furniture can be easily replaced at thrift stores, what I am trying to do is to salvage the special stuff, which insurance couldn't have helped with anyway.

thanks!

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

First, glad all made it out ok.
Clothes can be replaced.
Now, if you want them right, take them to the cleaners.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: How do you deal with smoke damage from a fire?

What I'd suggest has aleady been done so its up to you. Its kinda funny because I run a laundry at the prison for a living so I should know a sure fire way to get out the smell. The only thing not mentioned is HOT water if the clothes will stand it. I wash contaminated clothing in temps from 160-180. At this temp it kills everything and really activates the bleach. This may or may not be an option for you. One more that hasn't been mentioned- You need frequent breaks and flushes. Detergent works by raising the Ph. During the break the detergent is added. This shouldn't last more than 9 minutes, by then the detergent is breaking down and the Ph is dropping allowing the dirt/ other crap to redeposit on the clothes. Stop your washer and let it drain. Start it over again with about 3/4 of the detergent required. Let it go through 9 minutes agian. Do this one more time and let it run through completely. Start the machine over again on a short cycle with no soap added at all. This time you may add Downy or something similiar during both the wash and the time right before the final rinse. I never thought I'd use this information in the freeworld, geuss I was wrong.

Real happy to hear that everybody made it out ok too.