Cleaning Smoke Damaged Carpet

This article will discusses the materials you need, and how to keep yourself safe when cleaning smoke damaged carpet.

When you have a serious fire in your home, your carpet is likely to have additional damage. Water, fire, heat, and even chemical damage can happen in a typical fire. In these cases, carpet is usually unsalvageable.

While it is often possible to clean very light smoke damage out of carpet. Though, in my experience, it is best to remove and replace heavily smoke damaged carpet and pad.

The soot can get into the base and the backing of the carpet. It is only possible to properly clean one side of a carpet. While the surface of the carpet can look ok when originally cleaned, however; the soot that is imbedded in the backing can resurface over time.

If you have serious smoke damage to your home, we don’t recommend cleaning it yourself. Normally, homeowner’s insurance will cover smoke damage. Before you start cleaning, check your policy or call your insurance agent.

Materials you need to clean smoke damaged carpet

Filtered vacuum. A vacuum with a good filter must be able to pick up loose soot without spreading. When a vacuum has no filter it will blow out the smoke soot. Be sure to throw away the bag once finished and wash the filter if washable.
Filtered face mask – When looking for a mask, it needs to be rated for smoke filtering with a respirator attached. Certainly, make sure the mask fits firmly around your mouth and nose. Do not use a cheap painters’ or dust mask, because they will not keep the smoke out.
Carpet cleaning machine – Easily rentable from many grocery and hardware stores.
Carpet cleaning solution – Look for one with a PH rating under 12 and designed for neutralizing odors, not masking them. Because a high PH can cause a browning effect in the carpet.

Note: Because product brands change over time, some get better and some get worse. Since I have been retired for a while, I am in the process of retesting many of the products I used. For now, I recommend speaking with someone at janitorial or hardware stores. Also check online product reviews before purchasing a product.

Don’t use steam cleaners that spray down into the carpet for smoke damaged carpet

Many professional carpet cleaners use steam machines as they are fast and initially make the carpet appear clean. We don’t recommend using these types of services in general, but especially for areas with smoke damage.

Because methods that inject high pressure or hot water, such as steam or pressure cleaning, directly into the carpet. Basically, pushes soot to the backing of the carpeting.

Eventually, the soot is likely to resurface if not properly removed. This also causes a shadow effect making the carpet look dirty.

Why it is better to use a carpet cleaning machine that injects the water and solution onto a brush. It does not inject the solution deep into the carpet backing, or worse, into the padding.

When you wet carpet backing or padding, it does not dry easily. This can lead to issues with mildew later.

You may not even know the carpet is still wet. The top pile of the carpet can dry quickly. As the backing gets no air, it can stay wet for a very long time.

Cleaning smoke damaged carpet

Clear the floor. Remove as much furniture and smaller items as you can. Do not leave anything that can cause staining to the carpet when it is wet.

Most importantly, you must thoroughly vacuum the carpet first. This will remove any loose partials and make the wet process easier.

Next, mix your carpet cleaning solution as per the instructions on the bottle and add it to the machine. Use warm, not boiling water. You want it warm enough to activate the solution, but not hot enough to damage the carpet fibers or glued backing.

Start in one corner

Start in one corner with the carpet cleaning machine. You want to put pressure on the front of the machine, so the vacuum stays pressed to the floor. Raising the handle in the back, should tilt the front of the machine a little downward; giving you the optimal pressure between the vacuum piece and the floor.

Pull, not push, the machine across the floor releasing the water and solution onto the brush.

You want to keep a slow but steady pace. Traveling too slow, can cause over wetting the carpet. Traveling too fast, can have the same result because the vacuum is moving too fast to pick up the water you release.

To keep water from pooling, stop releasing the water solution about two feet before you want to stop the machine. Water will continue to run out of the release line. The vacuum needs to pick this excess water up. In other words, you must drag the machine a short distance after you stop releasing the solution.

Keep an eye on your wastewater tank, if you can. The goal is to immediately take out about as much water as you are releasing into the carpet.

The carpet should feel damp, but not soaked when you finish.

Dry the carpet as quickly as possible

To dry the carpet as quickly as possible, run fans or open the windows if you can.

If you do not have smoke soot in other areas of the house, you can run the HVAC. Do not run the HVAC with smoke soot still in the house, this can cause spreading the soot and potentially ruin your system.

If you still have an odor after cleaning, we recommend running through this process one more time using a different cleaning solution. Wait until the carpet is completely dry before doing so.

Deodorizers will not help. They only mask the problem. You must remove the soot that is in the carpet to eliminate the smell.

If two cleanings have not removed the smell, it is likely the carpet is too heavily smoke damaged to clean and may require replacing.