How to clean your house after a nearby wildfire

Although the task to clean your house after a nearby willdfire can be a great deal of work, those who live in fire prone areas consider themselves in most instances fortunate to have a home to return to following the disaster. To soot and ash remaining after a wildfire has passed can be difficult to clean from your home after a nearby wildfire, but with a good game plan can be completed in a day or two of intensive labor. It is because of the labor component that it is always a good idea to enlist as much assistance as possible to clean a house following a wildfire, in order to finish quickly before winds push ash from a dirty section of the house back onto a section that has been cleaned.

To clean your house after a nearby wildfire begin on the roof, either by sweeping the ash off or by using a leaf blower to remove the ash. It is important to clean the inside of your chimney using either a chimney brush or vacuum, and if the chimney is extremely dirty a call to a professional chimney sweep may be necessary. The house gutters are the next area that need to be cleaned and can be done either by hand or with the use of a shop vacuum if the ash and dirt is reasonably dry. When this is completed the next step to clean your house after a nearby wildfire is to "dust" the exterior of your home using a broom and brushing the exterior walls, windows and window ledges to remove soot build up and ash.

After removing as much dirt as possible from your house after a nearby wildfire, the next step is to wash the entire exterior of your home beginning on the roof and working your way from top to bottom. While this can be accomplished in most cases using a garden hose, in severe instances a power washer does a much better job and can be used in conjunction with a cleaning agent to really make a house shine. A few hours after washing the exterior of the house, the windows and any other glass can be cleaned with window cleaner and the house should look as good as new.

The last measure to clean your house after a nearby wildfire is to vacuum and clean concrete walks and driveways, and if possible to remove ash and soot from the lawn. Ash that has accumulated on grassy areas can be sprayed lightly with a garden hose each day for a week of so and will eventually recede into the ground.