Restored with Premier Restoration of the Carolinas

The Invisible Danger: When Smoke and Soot Linger After the Fire

• Tim Rhoades • Episode 3

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 Can Smoke Damage/Soot Linger Even If I Can't Smell It?

The silent danger lurking in your home after a fire might be more serious than you realize. Most people assume that once the smell of smoke dissipates, their home is safe again - but restoration expert Tim Rhoades warns that this dangerous misconception could be putting your family's health at risk.

During our eye-opening conversation, Tim reveals that smoke damage and soot particles can persist for years, invisibly contaminating your living space long after flames are extinguished. Even more surprising? Your gas logs or oil furnace might be silently coating your home in harmful soot without any fire at all. "If there's something wrong with your gas logs," Tim explains, "it can be letting off soot and you don't even know what's going on until you see a black film all over your belongings and your ceilings and your walls."

These persistent soot particles don't just create unsightly stains on walls and gradually darken your curtains – they pose significant respiratory hazards, especially for those with asthma or other breathing conditions. Tim shares his professional detection methods, including the simple but effective "white rag test" that has revealed shocking levels of contamination in seemingly clean homes. In one memorable case, what began as a routine air duct cleaning revealed such extensive soot damage that the entire house required professional restoration and repainting.

Whether you've recently experienced a fire or simply want to ensure your home environment is truly clean, this episode provides crucial information about the invisible threats that standard cleaning might miss. Premier Restoration's team brings specialized knowledge, equipment, and techniques to completely eliminate smoke damage rather than merely masking it. Take the first step toward a truly restored home by calling Tim at 888-847-2241 or visiting Premierrestorationofthecarolinas.com today. Your lungs will thank you.

To learn more about Premier Restoration of the Carolinas visit:
https://www.PremierRestorationoftheCarolinas.com
Premier Restoration of the Carolinas
888-847-2214

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Restored with premier restoration of the Carolinas, where we turn floods, fires and moldy mayhem into clean slates and fresh starts, hosted by Tim Rhodes, the guy who's been knee-deep in disaster, so you don't have to be. If your home or business has been through it, don't panic, tim's here to talk recovery, restoration and everything in between. Let's get things restored.

Speaker 2:

Your nose might not pick it up, but smoke and soot have a way of sticking around hiding in your walls, ducts and air long after the fire's out. Tim Rhodes helps us understand the invisible risks of fire residue and why scent isn't the only thing to trust. Welcome back everyone. Skip Monty, co-host slash producer, back here in the studio with Tim Rhodes, owner of Premier Restoration of the Carolinas. Tim, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

It's going good. How are you?

Speaker 2:

Doing just fine and loving your intro music with Pain and Desire by the Jacktown Ramblers. Absolutely love that song. Great intro to the podcast, so got to say that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, they're a good group.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. They're a good group. Love it, I love it. Tim, you've seen homes that look fine on the outside but are quietly suffering from the fire aftermath. Glad you're here to break that down for us. So big question of the day is can smoke damage, soot, linger, even if I can't smell it in my house after a fire?

Speaker 3:

It can, and not even after a fire. Skip, If you have gas logs and there's something wrong with your gas logs, it can be letting off soot gas logs. And if there's something wrong with your gas logs, it can be letting off soot and you don't even know what's going on until you see a black film all over your belongings and your ceilings and your walls. You won't even know what's doing it. After a fire, you know it's pretty obvious, but oil furnaces and gas logs do it just as much.

Speaker 2:

Wow, no, I did not know that. I've got gas logs so they can put soot in your house as well.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, if they're not properly operating like they should, they can release the soot and it can turn your basically turn your walls black Wow.

Speaker 2:

Over time. Well, what are the health risks of that of lingering soot, even when there's not a smell?

Speaker 3:

Well, you know soot has gases and stuff and you know it's going to mess with your breathing and stuff like that. Wow, you know.

Speaker 2:

I would imagine it would aggravate somebody with asthma, I'm certain, in a big way. Wow, does it affect? And it obviously affects your lungs. But does it affect HVAC systems and indoor air quality?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it will be in your HVAC system as well. It travels through the air and attaches to the wall, the ceiling, your end tables, your couches It'll just lay down everywhere. What we recommend is when we clean the air ducts as well, and then we have to clean the walls and the belongings and everything inside of a house, depending on how bad the soot is.

Speaker 2:

Wow, so that's something that you typically do is to clean out the ducts.

Speaker 3:

Yes, skip, we clean air ducts as well, and when people have fire, it's always part of the process of cleaning. The whole house is cleaning the air ducts as well.

Speaker 2:

Wow, well, I know a lot of people get their air ducts cleaned anyway just because they're worried about soot and allergens and that sort of thing. Do you see much of that where people, whether they've had a fire or not, oh yeah, we clean air ducts and we stay busy cleaning air ducts.

Speaker 3:

Well what?

Speaker 2:

kind of surfaces speaking of air ducts inside of a home are more than likely to hold on to in a long-term period.

Speaker 3:

You know, soot will just it'll lay down on sheetrock, it'll lay down on wood. It just it'll attach to anything. It's got an oily base to it, so you know how. It'll just get like an oil film and you'll bump into it one day and you'll notice your clothes got a little bit of dark stain on them from the wall or from a curtain. Now if you've got drapes in your house and they're white, they're eventually going to start turning black from the soot. Wow.

Speaker 2:

Interesting. Thankfully, I've never had a fire in my house, so knock on wood. Is a professional cleaning always necessary after a fire, even if it's just for minor incidents like in the kitchen?

Speaker 3:

You know I ain't going to say professional cleaning is always necessary, Probably recommended, but not always necessary. We have chemicals and we have the proper training to make sure that we do it right. You don't have the smell and the soot hanging around for years after the accident.

Speaker 2:

Well, to me, you know, I'd rather call a professional than take a chance, Even if they come out and say we think you're good, you don't need anything. I'd rather call somebody that knows what you're talking about rather than me just guessing. So do you use thermal imaging in detecting smoke damage?

Speaker 3:

No, not for smoke damage. Smoke damage is thermal imaging wouldn't work for it. Basically, the best way to check for if you're checking for soot, is a white rag. Really, just walk through the house with a white rag. Yep, just wipe your walls, wipe the top of your door jams.

Speaker 2:

Just see what the rag looks like huh, the white, the white glove test, I guess yeah wow, wow. What is in your experience? What's one of the most surprising things that you found from fire damage? If you could think of something, for instance, you know you go into a house as well. This house looks like there's nothing wrong, it's pristine. But then, all of a sudden, you're like, oh look, how I found this.

Speaker 3:

Anything come to mind oh yeah, we had a. I had a customer call wanting his air ducts cleaned because he he thought he had soot and he didn't think it was that bad. And when I got there and we started walking around his house and I started showing him how bad it truly was, we ended up cleaning this whole house for him and repainting the whole house on the inside wow, so what? And he had soot it was damage, it was some from gas logs.

Speaker 2:

No, no, kidding, and you find it with a white rag.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, you just walk around with a white rag and you can see it, and you can wipe the tops of door jams and a different part of different rooms and just show the homeowner exactly where the soot's at. Wow.

Speaker 2:

And that comes from a like with gas logs. I'm really interested in that. So that just comes from it, not like putting out too much, it's not burning it properly and that's what I would think.

Speaker 3:

I am not a gas logs expert, but I would say it has something to do with the nozzle on the tip. It's not burning it like it should, but I am not a gas log expert so I don't know. But it's got something to do with that nozzle.

Speaker 2:

And it'd be advisable to get that. Somebody look at that. If you got soot all in your house, yes, I would imagine. Wow, that's eye opening. I had no idea that gas logs could put soot in your house. I'm going to be walking around my living room with a white rag, probably after we get off here. But really appreciate you shed light on the invisible threats I think that a lot of people don't even know about. We appreciate it very much, tim, and we'll we'll catch you in the next episode of restored. All right, thanks, all right. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to restored with premier restoration of the Carolinas. If disaster strikes, don't Google, call the pros. You can reach Tim at 888-847-2241 or visit us online at premierrestorationofthecarolinascom. We'll bring the tools, the team and maybe even the shop vac, Because when things go wrong, we make it right.