How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls?

Published by Ahmad Jamal on March 8, 2022 | Last updated on May 13, 2023

Fire accidents can happen at any time and obtain a lesser probability to happen in some places, while in other places it can happen for a lot of reasons.

When they happen, you’ll need to be ready to act as fast as you can, as urgency is key in dealing with such life-threatening incidents.

However, once the dust settles –literally- after the fire, you’ll have to deal with a lot of things, like How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls, how to ventilate the house, and how to sustain the damaged parts of the house.

In this Cleaners Advisor Guide, I’ll show you How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls, using simple tools that can be mostly found in your house, or in the nearest convenience store.


Why Do You Need to Know How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls?

There is a handful list of reasons why you should know how to clean fire smoke off walls, whether you’re going to personally take care of it, or you’re going to hire a team of professionals to deal with the black walls the fire has left you.

 First of all, knowing How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls will save your property from any potential damage in case you leave it be.

Additionally, it’ll save you the time and money if you’re going to hire professionals, as they lock up the place and you’ll have to come back when they’re done.

It’ll inform you about the right (and wrong) equipment to use to clean fire smoke off walls.

One thing to note is that you’ll need to do it hastily, so, this guide should be helpful for you before your house catches any types of fire hazards, and once you’ve extinguished the fire.


Why Is Cleaning Fire Smoke Off Wall Important?

  • Removes Bad Memories of the Fire
  • Restores The Beautiful Look of the House
  • Prevents Any Type of Potential Property Damage
  • Avoids Potential Health-Related Risks
How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls
Picture Courtesy of “Christian Brothers”

What To Do Before Knowing How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls?

Prepare for Glory!

Yes, that’s how Leonidas -leader of the Spartan army against Persians in the Movie “300” prepared his soldiers for the final battle with the enemies.

The enemies here are the black substances on your walls, and the preparations should start with wearing protective gear, including rubber gloves, protective eye goggles, and strong shoes.

Ventilate Your Entire House

You may think you’re only dealing with a single room or area, but fire damage extends itself to every single room in your house.

Ventilation is key to getting the fresh air into the house and getting rid of the poisonous fire air filling the whole house.

Open the windows, open the doors, use large fans if necessary, make the air move in and out of the house constantly.

Clear The Battlefield

I’m still treating this as a battle, as you’ll be required to battle the fire smoke that’s been occupying the walls of your house.

You need to clear the whole area affected by the smoke, and the furniture and other objects should be cleaned after you move them outside the room.

You don’t want to scatter the objects affected by smoke into the whole house, that’s why you should move them, then clean them, away from the room you’re going to clean its walls.

Cover the Floor

Now that you’ve moved the objects away from the room, you’ll need to cover the floor so you don’t clean the walls but get the floor dirty.

Protecting the floor includes using unused newspaper to cover the whole area, or going for plastic drop sheets as a second option.

The goal is to protect the floor from any kind of dirt coming down from the walls or the ceiling.

Get the Right Equipment

Using the right equipment will lead to doing fewer efforts and achieving your cleaning goals, and vice-versa, going for the wrong equipment will mean that you’ll do more but achieve less.

Opt for a dry sponge, instead of using water-filled sponges.

American Red Cross advises using tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) in dealing with fire smokes odor, as 4-6 sips of TSP can be mixed with 1 cup household cleaner or chlorine bleach to every gallon of warm water.

Doing the right movements is essential too, as you should clean the walls downward instead of upward, and get the whole area done in the bottom right or left corner of the wall, depending on where you started.


Elephant in the Room: How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls

Now that you’ve cleaned the room from furniture, covered the floor, got the equipment ready, wore the protective clothes and tools, it’s time to go down to business.

  • Use the dry sponges to sweep the walls as much as possible.
  • Create the aforementioned TSP Solution.
  • Get as many sponges ready.
  • Dip the sponge in the TSP solution you’ve just made.
  • Start from the top of the wall downward.
  • Make sure you give every single area the attention it needs.
  • Once a sponge is too dirty get a new one and continue.
  • Keep doing that until the wall is fully clean.
  • Finished walls? Go to the ceiling and repeat the motions from one side to another.
  • Once you’re done with both you should leave the walls to dry for at least 24 hours.

I’m not going to fool you into believing this is an easy task, it isn’t. But doing it properly and with the right equipment will save you much-needed time.

However, this is the best way how to clean fire smoke off walls, saving most of your time and money.


Tips on How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls

  • Get it done with cleaning the walls as soon as possible, don’t waste time waiting.
  • Even if you don’t see actual dirt or black odor, that doesn’t mean it’s clean after fire, clean everything thoroughly.
  • You don’t have to wash everything, sometimes wiping down some surfaces or objects is enough, other times they need more efforts.
  • Ventilate Ventilate Ventilate!
  • Delay attempting to repaint the walls after cleaning them for at least 2-3 days after cleaning the fire smoke off walls for better results.

How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls FAQ

To Wrap Up

Perfecting the way of How to Clean Fire Smoke Off Walls is essential to reduce the damages made by the fire inside your house, and this article contained detailed information on that.

However, as I said earlier, it’ll require a lot of effort to get it done perfectly, so if you still have any questions regarding the issue, make sure to leave them in the comments section below, and I’ll get back to you with answers as soon as I can.