Fires can cause two different types of damage: damage from smoke and damage from fire. It is important to know the difference in order to know how best to restore everything.
Smoke Damage
It is the damage that occurs due to the soot caused by a fire. These pollutants spread much farther than the fire itself, resulting in stained surfaces, foul smells, and even the rusting of exposed metals.
Smoke damage, however, is more prevalent in the structural components than fire damage and can be expensive to fix. Smoke problems should be dealt with professionally, to avoid or lessen the effects of such damage, cleaning, deodorizing, or even ozone treatments in extreme cases, should be carried out.
Fire Damage
This is the damage caused to materials simply by being close to an open flame or heat source. It leads to the carbonization, incineration, and ruin of materials as well as the impairment of the system’s integrity.
When saving any structure from fire, other destructive processes begin in the form of water saturation, induced by the fire brigades. Whereas, fire loss recovery includes building repair, replacing burnt materials, and external water damage clean up.
Key Differences
- The extent of Damage: The area where there is usually smoke damage is much larger, while the area where there is fire damage is usually smaller.
- Severity of Damage: There is also a difference in that, by right, fire damage is worse since usually what gets damaged is extremely deep structural elements.
Having a professional smoke damage restoration company evaluate the damage after a fire is recommended.