How To Handle Fire Damage On Papers And Fabrics

Fire can be a very destructive force which can easily claim lives of people, burn buildings and other structures to the ground and damage material things. Papers and fabrics are very vulnerable, if you add fire to the equation, it will make these materials weaker and more fragile. Caution must be exercised when dealing with fire, and of course fire damaged materials. Read along and discover the different tricks that you can do when handling fire damaged paper and fabrics.

For fire damaged paper
Keep in mind that tightly packed books and documents will not burn easily because there is a lack of oxygen circulation between the pages. If your document or book is newly burned, it will give off acidic smoke and odor. To eliminate this, you must remove it from the source of fire, using protective gear and eliminate smoke from it. This is to avoid permanent staining of the paper. It is advisable to seek professional help to treat the burned paper and remove traces of odor in it.

For fire damaged fabrics
In terms of textiles, fire damage can cause two kinds of damages to happen which are invisible odor and visible soot. It is hard to remove these two damages. This is why majority of the people who experience fire damage on fabrics will just choose to discard their damaged things or seek the services of a fire damage professional to restore their burned fabrics to its original state.

Soot is usually oily and can easily stain clothes; professionals will best be equipped in removing this. It can be expensive to enlist the services of a restoration professional; but keep in mind that it is your best bet because they really know what to do to prevent further damage to your clothes.

If you want to remove the soot yourself, you can use a vacuum cleaner and hold the nozzle slightly above the surface of the item that you wish to clean.

Smoke will also cause your fabrics to have smoke odor, which can also be caused by cleaning your fabrics without properly deodorizing it. Companies who specialize in fire damage restoration usually treat clothes with odor by ozone treatment which breaks up the particles of smoke and eliminates the odor.

If the fire damaged item can be bleached, you can treat it using the following ingredients: 4 to 6 tablespoons of trisodium phosphate, one cup of chlorine bleach and a gallon of water. Mix everything and submerge the items that you want to clean and leave it overnight. Afterwards, wash it with clean water and let it dry.

In cleaning washable clothes, it can be fully cleaned after 1 to 5 washings. You should clean first the clothes which have more fire damage. If the fire damaged fabric can be cleaned by dry cleaning only, you can seek the services of a professional.

Handling and caring for fire damaged paper and fabrics can be very tricky, if you think that you can not do it yourself, it is better to turn to a professional treatment company.

About the Author

Osmund Aft is an homeowner advocate for Fire Restoration and Suffolk County, NY fire damage restoration

Author Profile: TheOsmund

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