DIY cleaning is strongly discouraged. Soot particles are tiny and easily spread, and household cleaners can smear the oily residue, making the damage worse. Professionals use specific cleaning agents and methods tailored to different materials to remove soot safely and effectively without causing further harm. While Smoke particles are microscopic and sticky, they bury themselves inside porous materials like drywall, wood studs, and insulation. If you just paint over them, the smell will come back on the first hot day. We use ozone generators and hydroxyl machines to break down the smoke molecules at the chemical level. We also use specialized cleaning agents to chemically sponge soot from walls (typically in Brooklyn brownstones where plaster is common) so the odor is permanently removed, not just masked.

Many items can be successfully restored. The feasibility depends on the material, the extent of the damage, and the type of smoke. Our specialized content cleaning division uses advanced techniques to salvage as much as possible, from furniture and clothing to important documents and electronics.

In most cases, it is not safe. Structural integrity may be compromised, and the air quality can be hazardous due to soot and smoke residue. It is best to relocate temporarily until the property has been professionally restored and deemed safe for re-entry.

This is exactly why our name is Flooded Brooklyn. Fire trucks can dump hundreds of gallons of water per minute into your home to extinguish a blaze. By the time the fire is out, you are often left with a flooded basement or soaked ceiling. We treat this as a dual emergency: we extract the standing water immediately to prevent mold growth (which starts in 24 hours) while simultaneously beginning the soot cleanup. It is faster and cheaper for you to hire one company that handles both the flood and the fire than to hire two separate contractors.