Electrical Fires and Soot Damage

1/8/2021 (Permalink)

This holiday season, SERVPRO of Cecil County visited a home in Warwick that had been damaged due to an electrical fire.  The blower cord next to the fireplace had malfunctioned, causing an explosion of soot to travel throughout the property.

If soot cleaning is improperly handled, it can lead to more damage so it is always best to hire a certified professional to perform the soot removal.  Soot is comprised of many pollutants, including chemicals, acids, and metals.  When these pollutants are mixed with humidity, they can become acidic.  Therefore, it poses a threat to your health regarding respiratory issues as well as air pollution.

Soot damage such as this can also lead to carbon chains.  This type of damage looks like spider webs and occurs when the carbon in the soot collides with other soot matter.  The chains then form along your walls, ceilings and other affected areas.

Our team eliminated all signs of soot damage for the homeowner.  During this process, we first pre-test the extent of the damage using dry cleaning sponges.  We often can’t see the soot on a wall or surface, so these sponges allow us to properly discover where the soot has spread to.  Once we have a thorough idea of where it has collected, these sponges are then used to remove the soot particles from the affected areas.

When this process was complete, we also completed our odor removal services and left the home good as new!  

We offer this service to our Cecil County community among our other complete fire damage restoration services including cleaning and sanitizing services, and reconstruction.