After a fire is put out in your home, the immediate risk to your home is gone. However, there can still be a lingering risk from smoke damage. Fire can easily vaporize any material in your home. Those vapors can then permeate different surfaces.
Once the fire is put out, those vapors stay behind leaving toxic residue particulate matter that can be a threat to the health and safety of your family. They can contain among other things polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and formaldehyde. It is important to work with a smoke damage restoration company, like Emergency Restoration Specialists, Inc. to ensure your family’s health is protected.
Health Risks From Residential Smoke Damage
Smoke damage is often hidden and can be missed. You must understand the health risks of smoke damage to watch for the signs and symptoms. Here are the main health risks you can experience from smoke damage:
Respiratory Issues
Inhaling smoke, harmful chemicals, and particulate matter can cause several respiratory problems. These can include coughing, wheezing, and breathing difficulties. Smoke can also aggravate existing respiratory conditions like asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis.
Skin Irritation
Touching surfaces that have smoke damage can cause skin irritation like redness, itching, and rash or hives.
Eye Irritation
Smoke damage can cause serious eye irritation like redness, itching, and burning.
There is also a risk of severe health issues including:
- Mental Health Issues: Exposure to smoke damage can cause several mental health issues including anxiety, depression, and confusion.
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Smoke contains carbon monoxide, which can be deadly when inhaled in large amounts.
- Cancer: People with prolonged exposure to smoke damage can have an increased risk of cancer, especially lung cancer.
- Heart Disease: Exposure to smoke damage can also increase your risk of developing heart disease and stroke.
The best way to mitigate these risks is to not enter your home until all the smoke damage has been removed by professionals.
How Does Professional Smoke Damage Reduce Health Risks?
Smoke damage removal is the process of removing all the harmful and toxic vapors that have permeated the surfaces of your home. Once these are removed, your home is safe again to enter. The smoke damage removal process has several steps including:
- Assessment: A professional smoke damage removal team will assess the extent of the smoke damage and develop protocols for removal.
- Ventilation: The team will start by properly ventilating your home. Using specialized equipment like professional air movers, fans, and blowers, they will remove the smoke particles and odor from the air.
- Cleaning: Next, they will use specialized cleaning agents and tools to remove all the toxic residue and particulates from the different surfaces in your home.
- Deodorizing: Smoke damage professionals will then rid your home of any lasting odors with deodorizing agents, ozone generators, or thermal fogging.
- Restoration: Finally, depending on the extent of the damage, they may replace or repair different parts of your home. This can include working with other professionals like plumbers, electricians, and contractors.
If your home was damaged by a fire, don’t risk your health. Contact smoke damage restoration experts to return your home to safety.