The Effect of Smoke Damage on Your Home and Health

5 min read

Fires have devastating and long-lasting effects on people and properties. Even when it is quickly extinguished, and all residents have safely evacuated, a house can still have irreparable damage, and its residents may experience latent health side effects from smoke exposure.

This article explores the effects smoke damage can have on your home and loved one’s health and why working with experts in home restoration in Avondale is a must when your home has been ravaged by fire.

The Impact of Smoke Damage in Avondale Homes

The problem with smoke damage is you’re dealing with several things at once:

• Soot is fine enough to permanently stain surfaces and objects.
• A strong odor permeating all over the house even if the fire was isolated in one room.
• Extreme temperatures that burn building materials, household items, appliances, and furniture.
• The potentially toxic chemical compositions of household materials that heat up and burn.

While the fire rages, the smoke can be just as hot as the flames and burn things in its path. It can singe wallpaper, for example, as well as carpets, wooden cornices and baseboards, curtains, and other finishings and accessories.

Porous and cellulose materials like upholstery, insulation foam, and unfinished wood furniture can also burn when the smoke is hot enough. If they somehow survive the fire, there’s a second problem: soot, whose particles measure 2.5 micrometers or smaller. Fine soot can lodge into the tiny nooks and crannies of these rough, porous items and become impossible to remove. As a result, these materials and household items become unusable even if they didn’t burn.

What about materials with ultra-smooth surfaces and waterproof finishing, like porcelain? Although soot may slide off of it, it can still become permanently stained if not washed immediately. Sometimes, however, pressure-washing soot off porcelain tiles isn’t enough, so you’ll have to call a professional cleaner or an expert in home restoration in Avondale as quickly as possible.

Smoke damage can also cause rapid corrosion of metals and warping of plastics, tiles, and roofing materials. Working with a trusted restoration company is highly recommended when dealing with corrosion, warping, and severe smoke damage because they could signal serious structural problems. So for the safety of your home and loved ones, it is best to consult experts in residential restoration in Avondale.

The Adverse Health Effects of Smoke Damage in Avondale

Losing the material things that gave you so much happiness and comfort is hard, but suffering long-term health problems because of smoke damage is more devastating.

Smoke from a burning building contains fine soot particles and toxic chemical fumes like aldehydes, nitrogen oxides, benzene, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, styrene, and acidic gases that can adversely affect people’s health. Exposure to smoke can result in the following immediate effects:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Sluggishness or reduced alertness
• Shortness of breath
• Coughing or wheezing
• Fatigue
• Watery and stinging eyes
• Painful inhalation, which can be related to respiratory tract irritation or injury due to inhaling particulates and burning fumes
• Chest pain and vomiting due to carbon monoxide exposure

Prolonged exposure to smoke can also lead to chronic and long-term effects:

• Cardiovascular diseases, such as angina, heart arrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, and obstructive pulmonary disease.
• Lung diseases
• Asthma
• Chronic coughing
• Weakening of the lungs
• Stroke

It’s important to note that these long-term side effects usually develop for people who remain inside a scorched building for an extended period and are still covered in soot. Toxic gases might still be trapped inside, making it extra dangerous to linger in a burned-down house. This is why it’s important to get in touch with an Avondale smoke damage repair and restoration company as soon as possible. The goal is to restore your home to its former condition but, more importantly, to ensure your family can return to a clean, comfortable, and safe home.

You can find ways to earn money and buy back the things you lost in a fire, but there’s no guarantee that your health will be 100 percent back to normal if you develop adverse health effects from smoke damage. So if your home has massive smoke and fire damage, relocate your household to a temporary residence and get started on your home restoration as soon as possible.

Get Your Life Back to Normal Through Home Restoration in Avondale

Cosmetic and structural damage to a home can quickly amount to thousands of dollars. In addition, smoke damage can drastically reduce a residential property’s value and curb appeal. Therefore, the best way to restore a house’s appearance, structural integrity, and market value is to conduct a thorough restoration.

Getting life back to normal is often the biggest challenge in the aftermath of a residential fire. Fixing your home is a cathartic first step to recovery. More importantly, having a roof over your head and a safe, comfortable living space for your entire family will give you the strength to physically, mentally, and emotionally overcome trauma from the incident.

Restoration 1’s Avondale smoke damage restoration experts help home fire victims get their lives back on track. Schedule a consultation with our restoration experts today.