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How to Clean Soot – 5 Big Mistakes Most People Make

Mold removal, water damage restoration, fire damage restoration

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House fires are miserable to deal with — wouldn’t it be great if we could just wipe everything down and move on like nothing happened? Unfortunately, that’s not what happens. Fire doesn’t just burn whatever it touches; it spreads its damaging affects far and wide! One of the ways it does that is soot: that black stuff that sits on your surfaces, walls, and ceiling after a fire.

Even more unfortunately, most people try to just wipe it up themselves, and end up making it worse! So, is there some secret for how to clean soot? Yes, there kind of is! It’s a finicky substance to clean up, and it’s not simple. Read on to learn what mistakes to avoid when attempting to clean soot.

Table of Contents

What is Soot?

Soot is a byproduct of “incomplete combustion” of an organic material. When materials like wood, plastic, oil, or natural fibers catch on fire, and there isn’t quite enough oxygen to feed the fire, instead of producing 100% carbon dioxide (CO2), it produces carbon monoxide (CO) and solid carbon particles. These solid carbon particles are soot.

Soot particles are microscopic, but they can wreak havoc on your home long after the fire is put out and cleaned up. Soot particles contain oils, acids, and other compounds from the material that was burning, and so the soot smells bad. It will float around the building the fire was in, landing on every surface. That soot can be squished deep into those surfacesby just a touch — from furniture to drywall to rugs — and then the smoky fire smell is pressed deep into the surfaces of your home.

Why Should You Listen to Us?

Cleaner Guys is a certified professional fire damage repair company in Washington State, with more than 20 years of experience successfully cleaning up after fires. The biggest part of successfully restoring a home from a fire is removing all of the smoke smell! And you can’t do that without knowing how to properly remove soot, because it’s the soot that gets into everything.

For this article, I spoke with Dave — one of our most experienced home damage restoration technicians and the manager of our mitigation division — about how to clean soot. Dave has more than 40 years of experience restoring buildings from fire and water damage!

Copyright Cleaner Guys LLC 2024

Top 5 Big Mistakes Most People Make When Cleaning Soot

When I asked Dave about how to clean soot, he pointed out immediately that cleaning up properly after a fire is a tricky business, and sadly, many people don’t know that some cleaning techniques may only make the fire damage cleanup worse. He laid out the 5 most common below.

1: Getting it wet first

“The most important thing is to not start getting the soot-covered area wet or clean it until it’s been vacuumed!” Dave said. “The soot is so microscopic, that as soon as it gets even a little bit wet, it will begin sinking into the drywall, wood, or textile it’s on, and be almost impossible to get out!” Our clients often complain that the smoke smell has lingered around their house for weeks or months after the fire, and that’s usually because they tried to wipe down the sooty surfaces, which pressed and smeared the soot into the surface instead!

The key, Dave explained, is to vacuum every sooty surface very, very gently first. Any amount of touch or pressure can push the soot particles into the surface, so ideally, hover the nozzle of the vacuum an inch above the surface as you vacuum, and don’t let the vacuum touch the surface at all!

2: Thinking it’s localized

“It’s truly amazing how far the soot will spread from a fire”, Dave continued. “Soot is attracted to cold surfaces — anything cooler than the fire — and it’ll travel all the way upstairs, into other rooms, and into bathrooms, where it’s cool!”

Soot particles are so small, and can float so far, we here at Cleaner Guys highly recommend that you vacuum every surface in the house for soot; especially every flat, horizontal one. About 80% of the soot from a fire will settle on flat horizontal surfaces, according to our specialist Dave. Hover the vacuum nozzle about an inch above the sooty surfaces — remember, the lightest touch can push soot into surfaces!

3: Not calling professionals

When I first asked our mitigation manager Dave, “How can regular homeowners clean up soot by themselves? What advice do you have for them?”, his immediate response was, “Well, they should always, always call a professional fire damage cleanup company, even if just for a consultation and advice. Cleaning up soot and smoke is really tricky, and most untrained people get it wrong, and then they have to call us anyway.”

Cleaning up soot is such a tricky business, that to make sure it’s taken care of correctly, and that the smoke smell is totally gone, a professional fire damage company should really always be called.

If you have fire damage in Western Washington State, give Cleaner Guys a call now at (360)757-4300! Or, you can write to us through our contact form here, and we’ll get back to you right away. We’d be more than happy to talk through the details of your fire damage with you.

4: Using the wrong cleaners

Even after you’ve dry vacuumed as much of the soot away as you can, trying to wipe or scrub the rest of it away with the wrong cleaning chemical won’t help at all. And unfortunately, there are many incorrect ideas on the internet about what will help clean soot.

Dishwasher detergent, baking soda, and vinegar are all popular suggestions on the internet for cleaning soot. Unfortunately, none of them work very well on soot. Dave points out that none of them are formulated to lift the soot away from the surface. They would all just smear it around. “In my 40 years of cleaning up fire damage,” Dave explained, “whenever people ask me what soot-cleaning detergent to use, I always tell them to go to their local janitorial supply store and ask them which soot cleaner they most recommend that has surfactants in it.” Surfactants are the chemical compounds in most shampoos and dish soaps that form suds, and then lift dirt particles away and store them in the suds, which then get rinsed away.

Trisodium phosphate (TSP) can also work on soot, and is suggested by another Cleaner Guys manager, Bob.

Photos of a home Cleaner Guys restored from major fire damage in 2024

5: Turning on electronics or the furnace

Turning on a TV near where the fire was is also not a good idea until the home is thoroughly cleaned, our specialist Dave cautions. The soot particles will be attracted to the electric charge from the TV. They can collect around the circuitry, potentially causing it to overheat, and even explode!

Additionally, turning on the furnace immediately after a fire is not wise. The ventilation shafts will suck in all the soot particles and further distribute them all over the building. Try not to turn on anything that will create air movement, and stir up the soot! It will make it harder to remove from everything.

How to Clean Soot

By far the most important thing to do when dealing with soot everywhere after a fire is to call and consult a professional fire damage restoration team. Cleaning up soot correctly and completely is best done by a trained hand. However, here are some tips on doing it yourself the best you can, if a fire damage cleanup company is not an option.

  1. Do not try to ventilate the home by opening windows or turning on fans! Air movement will help the soot to distribute even more around the house, and settle onto even more surfaces!
  2. Don’t touch any surfaces if possible, so that you don’t accidentally transfer soot to more surfaces.
  3. Wear gloves, eye protection, an N-95 mask, and full-coverage clothing when picking up or cleaning anything in a fire and soot damaged house.
  4. Remove any debris from the fire, such as broken drywall, broken glass, or items burnt beyond saving. Do not move anything that you think you can clean and save — you don’t want to press any soot into the surface of the item.
  5. Vacuum every surface for soot, holding the vacuum nozzle an inch away from the surface to avoid smearing the soot. Use a HEPA filter vacuum if possible (this is the kind that professionals use). A regular household vacuum may be ruined by soot.
  6. Use only a 100% rubber dry chemical sponge to gently wipe the remaining soot away. The rubber sponge on the carbon particles of soot acts the exact same way as a rubber eraser on graphite pencil lead, creating friction that lifts the particles up instead of pushing them in. The tiny pores in the rubber are also extremely absorbent, grabbing onto the soot particles and lifting them away!

More Resources

Our top 10 tips for how to prevent a house fire ➜

What is the fire damage restoration process? ➜

Will water damage go away on its own? ➜

How to choose a service company you can trust ➜

A photo of some of the awesome technicians at Cleaner Guys, ready to help restore your home!

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. No part of this article is medical or legal advice, and may not be used as such. For all serious medical matters, consult your doctor. For all serious legal matters, consult your legal advisor. This article contains Cleaner Guys’ experience and opinions only.

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