Smoke damage question

[KevinD]

Trying here to get a apartment managers ass out of the fire.
Freshly painted apt with new carpet and appliances.

Their smoke detectors are pretty sensitive so they burn off the new ovens on high heat for awhile so the new tenants do not set off the smoke alarms the first couple times they use them.

Manager got in a hurry and did not remove the papers that were inside the oven and the papers could have been inside plastic wrappers also. Apt was filled with white smoke when he returned.

Copious amounts of ventilation has helped but not perfect.
Would ozone make it better or dry fogging?

It has been awhile since I have done any of this kind of work but still have most of the equipment.
Just looking for some advice.

 

[Luis Gomez]

Do not fog. Ozone is the easiest and requires no labor from your part. But you might have to wipe down walls, ceilings and clean the carpets first. Every fire is unique and will require a different approach.

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Deodorization is the last step of cleaning. You have to remove as much as possible of the source of any cause of odor, so that all you have to treat is the last bit of residue that can't be removed by any other practical means.

Smoke deodorization.
1. First, clean all effected materials in the dry state. (e.g. dust using lambswool, smoke sponges, brushes and HEPA vacuuming). Even what you can't readily see must be cleaned in the dry state first..
2. Then resort to wet cleaning all surfaces that can be reached. This includes the cleaning of the carpet. Use cleaning agents effective at the fine particulate matter removal. (e.g. Benefect's Atomic degreaser)
3. Then, seal porous surfaces if necessary.
4. Lastly, deodorize the remainder as necessary. If you have done a decent job at steps 1-3, the odor should be relatively faint. Make sure the deodorization process is appropriate for the smoke odor type. (e.g., you will used different process/products for protein fire, paper/wood fire, plastics)

Using ozone is often a very practical means of smoke odor elimination, especially if time constraints permit it, the smoke is a dry, non-protein type, and the premises do not contain an unmanageable amount of materials where ozone could cause a problem.

 

[J Scott W]

As Shawn discusses cleaning must come first. Soot can cover a surface so evenly that it appears to be clean until you start usning a soot removal sponge.

After cleaning, I would suggest Vaportek's SOS (Smoke Odor Solution). In many cases it works better than ozone with no safety concerns.

 

[KevinD]

Found out a little more info today.
I thought it was a newly renovated apartment. It is a brand new, just built, never lived in unit.
Oven was on for 30 minutes max and they are not too keen on the idea of having to wash down everything.
How do you think the Vaportek would work without washing seeing as the smoke only hit it for a short time before it was ventilated?

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

If the apartment has a smoke odor right now it is for one reason, and one reason only. There is a layer of smoke particulate that is off-gassing that is present on surfaces. This particulate layer is continually become airborne.

Whether you fog or ozone, your choice of deodorization media will have to contend with a contamination load that can be many orders of magnitude higher than the process can handle. The results will either be short lived, or you will have to use massive dosing. The customer has to know only one thing. Deodorization is most effective only on quantities of odor producing substances left as minor residue, not massive. You have to remove the source.

Some people shortcut by fogging a deodorizing product without cleaning. The results are, shall we say, unpredictable. As well, you will have to use much more product, possibly introducing other problems like sticky residues and long-term deodorization scent that will linger far beyond what the tenant may be willing to tolerate. You may also have to place long-term scent discs or odor counteractant to overcome the smoke particulate off-gassing you were not willing to remove by cleaning.

If you do the job right, you need only scent minimally (if at all, as is with OZONE), and for what will be a short duration. People generally don't like their homes smelling like scent they themselves did not choose. Smoke odor is bad, but few will appreciate the relative difference with a peculiar fruit or chemical scent overload that gets real old, real fast.

The goal is for the premises to have little or no odor upon rehabilitation.