How to Deal with Smoke Damaged Walls?

Smoke damage can be a nasty problem in your household. If you have such an issue at home, you may have already considered hiring a professional company to repair your walls. However, services like those are a bit expensive. There is a more affordable solution. You can clean the walls all by yourself. Yes, it is going to be hard work, but it is not impossible. In truth, the amount of work depends on the amount of damages on the walls.

Here we will show you how to remove smoke from walls. Read on.

First things first, you need to take action immediately after the walls become smoky. The sooner you deal with the problem, the less work you will have.

Charring and soot

Soot is practically the residue that smoke leaves to the walls. In other words, it’s those black marks. Charring is the burnt paint. Note that it may not be possible to clean the soot if it is too much or heavy. Make sure you take a look at the damages and determine whether cleaning is possible. If there is something you can do, then proceed to the next steps.

Tools and materials you are going to need

• 1 gallon of warm water
• 2 buckets
• Rubber cleaning gloves
• Large sponge
• Trisodium phosphate cleaner (TSP)
• Clean rags
• Goggles

CAUTION! Trisodium phosphate cleaner is a harsh cleaner that can lead to severe skin irritation if you don’t protect your hands. For this reason, you are strongly recommended to use rubber gloves.

Cleaning

Add one tablespoon of TSP into a bucket filled with warm water. Soak a sponge into the solution. Wipe the affected area of the wall with the sponge. After that take a rag, dip it in clean water and rinse the wall until you wash away all the solution.

Repeat the steps until you see a difference. However, make sure you don’t over saturate the walls. This may cause further damages.

If you don’t achieve the desired results, you probably need to repaint the walls.

Blistering and bubbling

Excessive heat can lead to bubbling and blistering. The latter cannot be undone. Certainly, however, they can be repaired.

Tools and materials you are going to need

• Fine sandpaper
• Spackle
• Putty knife
• Paint (it should match the color of the wall)
• Primer

Repairing

Use a putty knife to scrape all the blister or bubble there is on the wall.

Sand the blister or bubble. Make sure it is flat. After that spackle the area. Let it dry completely. When it is ready, sand again. Make it smooth.

Next, prime the area and apply some paint.

How to remove smoke odor

Smoke odors can stay in the house for a long time. They are quite stubborn and nasty. You can use a number of methods to remove bad odors. Here we provide a few.

Use vinegar: Using white vinegar wipe down all the furniture, items, appliances, floors and anything that can be washed. Another trick you can do is to place a few bowls of vinegar somewhere in the affected room or rooms for a couple of days. You can add lavender oil to the vinegar as well to make things fast.

Use baking soda: Apply baking soda over the furniture, items and floor. This will help absorb the bad odors. Also, you can place bowls filled with baking soda around the room. Let them rest for a couple of days. You’ll see that baking soda has an effect.

Don’t forget to leave windows open if the weather is warm.