Can I Paint Over Smoke Damage?
Catastrophic events like fires can cause smoke damage. You may consider painting over the affected areas to return your property to its natural state.
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Before doing so, understand that smoke damage within your home or business goes beyond simply smelling and looking bad. It’s also uncomfortable and harmful to your health. If not addressed quickly, your walls can become permanently stained.
So, what should you do?
Your best bet is to get rid of the soot and paint over the smoke damage fast. Read our step-by-step guide below if you’re wondering how to paint over smoke damage.
1. Dry Cleaning
Cleaning soot off a wall is necessary before beginning the painting process. This process is known as dry cleaning, and it is essential to neutralize the damage caused by smoke and fire.
Before you begin the dry cleaning process, you must get all the loose dirt, soot, and debris off the walls. This will give you a smooth painting surface.
Then, you’ll need a dry cleaning sponge. These are special sponges you can purchase from home improvement stores that are made for cleaning up soot. Use the sponge to carefully wipe down all walls and ceilings with smoke damage. You may need to change your sponge if it becomes too saturated with soot, so have several backups handy.
Once you’ve finished cleaning every wall and ceiling with the dry sponge, you may move on to the next step.
2. Wet Cleaning
You’ll immediately see the difference in the cleanliness of the walls after the dry cleaning process. For this next step, you should wear protective clothing, so you don’t get cleaning liquid on your personal clothing. A mask is also necessary to prevent breathing in any cleaning products.
What cleaning product should I use? We recommend phosphate-based heavy-duty cleaners in powder form. These are the best for blocking out harsh stains to prime over them.
Here are the steps for the wet cleaning process:
- Mix the cleaning product powder with water and apply the mixture to your walls and ceilings.
- Using the sponge, use long strokes to wipe the smoke damage away.
- After cleaning all the smoke-damaged surfaces, use a different sponge to rinse the walls and ceiling with clean water.
- Wait until it dries completely.
Read more: How to clean smoke damage from wood
3. Priming
Even with non-smoke-damaged walls, you must put a primer down before painting. For smoke-damaged walls, you need to make sure that there are no more stains on the walls before applying primer.
Double-check to make sure your walls are completely clean, then begin priming. Priming the walls is more convenient than painting because although it should be completely even, it doesn’t need to be perfect. Make sure you’re covering the stains, and you’ll be ready to go.
We recommend using two coats to ensure full coverage and stain blockage when priming. You must leave two hours for the primer to dry before attempting to paint over it. Also, be sure to take the following safety precautions:
- Primers often have a very strong chemical smell, so make sure to keep your windows open so air can circulate.
- You should also wear a mask during this step so you don’t inhale the fumes of the primer.
4. Painting
We’ve arrived at the last step of the process: painting! At this point, you shouldn’t see any stains through the primer. If there are still visible stains through the primer, you may be able to see them through the paint as well.
One of the decisions you’ll have to make is whether you should paint over just the damaged section or the entire wall. Although it’s entirely up to you, we recommend painting the entire wall to avoid weird overlapping streaks.
Make sure to do a few coats to ensure you get the color payoff you want from your paint. Once you’ve finished painting, you can redecorate your walls, hang up photos, or do whatever else you’d like to put on your fixed walls!
Read more: The cost of smoke damage removal
Conclusion
Smoke damage can be devastating, but it’s not impossible to fix. With our step-by-step guide to painting over smoke damage, your walls will look brand new in no time.
If you cannot finish this process yourself or need help, feel free to contact ADU for all your cleaning and restoration needs!
- Complete Guide to Smoke Damage Cleanup - 17 July, 2024
- Essential Steps in Commercial Fire Damage Restoration - 10 July, 2024
- Effective Smoke Remediation Techniques for Homes and Businesses - 3 July, 2024
With Ben’s knowledge, and visionary leadership, All Dry USA has expanded into a national, full-service property damage restoration company with multiple locations across the United States. Ben holds numerous specialty licenses and certifications in restoration and construction.
