Caring for Fire-Damaged Curtains

3/3/2021 (Permalink)

Fires have a nasty habit of tearing through homes and businesses, creating tremendous damage that affects the overall structure of the building, personal items, and everything in between. In order to keep damage to a minimum, it is important to take action as soon as possible once the fire has been put out. Guides to cleaning surfaces after a fire are commonly found online, but what about cleaning textile objects and upholstery? More specifically, what should you do if you discover that your curtains have sustained fire damage? It may come as a surprise, but your fire-damaged curtains shouldn’t immediately be sent to the garbage can. Rather, they may be salvageable with the help of some cleaning. How do you do that? You have a few options. Let’s learn about some of them:

How to Care for Fire-Damaged Curtains

After a fire, your curtains may have experienced either smoke or soot damage. Both types of damage require their own, different cleaning procedures.

Smoke Damage

If the curtains in your home or commercial business have experienced smoke damage as a result of a fire, eliminating the odor is first on the agenda. It is important to remove the odor prior to any other cleaning efforts in order to prevent the smoke smell from becoming trapped in the fabric. Here at SERVPRO, we offer deodorizing treatments, which you can learn more about here. Once the deodorizing process is complete, you can also trust our Drapes and Blinds Services to give your curtains a professional, thorough cleaning.

Soot Damage

Not unlike smoke damage, the first step when dealing with soot damage after a fire is removing the soot particles themselves. This must be done first in order to avoid soot stains, as soot is oil based and can do serious damage to the fabric. Some types of curtains can be dry cleaned, but if you’re unsure of the best way to clean your curtains after soot removal, give us a call. We offer an exclusive process of dry cleaning draperies and have the equipment necessary to provide a quality cleaning that you can trust.

Preventing Additional Fire Damage

When dealing with the aftermath of fire damage, you run the risk of imposing further fire damage on items in your home or business. Refrain from touching curtains that have sustained fire damage and if they happen to be wet from efforts to put out the fire, make sure that they are dried as soon as possible in order to prevent mold growth. It is also helpful to keep windows open or keep air circulating as best as possible. To protect against future fires, consider investing in curtains made of fire-resistant material and stay up to date with fire safety by regularly testing fire alarms as well as practicing fire safety.

Got Fire Damage? Protect Your Belongings with SERVPRO

Have you recently had a fire in your home or business? With SERVPRO, you can ensure that your belongings receive the care that they need. We offer a range of contents restoration services and can help restore your home or business after fire, water, storm, or mold damage. Know that by trusting the fire damage restoration professionals at SERVPRO of Hunt Valley and Harford County, your fire-damaged belongings, whether they be curtains or a beloved photograph, will be in good hands. Call us today at (410) 229-0012 or check out our Fire Caring For Your Belongings page for more information.