Hardwood Floor Cleaning in Alvarado, TX
After a kitchen fire the walls get repainted and the floor gets forgotten, and the floor is holding most of what everybody can still smell.
A small fire is a common enough event that most people know somebody it has happened to. A pan on a burner, a dryer, a space heater against something it should not have been against. The fire itself is contained in one room, the damage looks local, and the insurance work concentrates on that room.
Smoke does not stay in one room. It goes wherever the air went, which in a house with the doors open and a system running is everywhere.
That leaves a residue across every horizontal surface in the building, and by area the floors take the largest share of it.
What Smoke Residue Actually Is
It depends heavily on what burned. A protein fire, which is the technical name for food on a stove, leaves an almost invisible greasy film with a powerful and persistent odor. Burning plastics and synthetics leave a black, oily, acidic soot that stains. Burning wood or paper leaves a dry, powdery ash that is easier to remove but which smears badly the moment it gets wet. The three need different handling, which is why a single approach to every fire produces poor results.
The Odor Lives in the Residue
This is the part people find hardest to believe. A smoke smell that persists after everything has been washed is not lingering in the air. It is coming off the film that is still on surfaces, evaporating slowly. Remove the film and the smell goes with it. Leave the film on the floors and seal the walls with paint, and the house will smell of smoke on the first warm day.
Where the Line Falls
Film comes off, including protein film, which is one of the more satisfying things this equipment does. Soot staining that has gone into bare wood at a worn spot does not. Heat damage is permanent, because the wood and the finish have been chemically altered, and nothing surface-level reverses it. A board that has scorched or blistered needs replacing by a carpenter, since sanding and refinishing are outside what we do.
Not sure whether your floor needs cleaning or refinishing? There are three tests you can run yourself in about a minute, and they will tell you which one you are dealing with before anyone quotes you.
Hardwood problems we handle in Alvarado
Get the floors done last, after every other trade has finished, and the smell usually goes with them.
Alvarado bookings are on 214-838-7852, or use the scheduler on this site. $50 comes off the first cleaning.
Areas we cover around Alvarado
Neighborhoods: The Homesteads, Lone Oak, Eagle Glen, Sunset Ridge, The Parks of Alvarado, Crystal Springs Estates
Zip codes: 76009
Hardwood questions from Alvarado homeowners
Where does this fit with the restoration contractor?
After them, generally. They handle the structure, the affected room, and the air. Floors elsewhere in the house are often outside their scope entirely, which is why owners end up calling us separately once everything else is finished.
Should this go on the claim?
Ask your adjuster before you pay for it. Smoke damage to floors in unaffected rooms is a legitimate item on many policies. We do not deal with carriers and we will not submit anything, but the invoice is straightforward.
The smell is worst in one bedroom. Why?
Usually because that room was downwind of the air handler, or its door was open when everything else was closed. Smoke follows airflow and airflow in a house is not intuitive.
How soon can you come?
Once the air quality work is done and the house is habitable. There is no advantage in cleaning a floor while soot is still being disturbed elsewhere in the building.
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Schedule your Alvarado hardwood floor cleaning
Prefer to talk it through first? Call 214-838-7852. Otherwise, pick a time below.
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