House fire and fabric...help!
 

My dear friend lost her home to fire earlier this week. I took five garbage bags full of her stash...from cotton to polyester that has smoke and stain n possible burns on some pieces. So far, everything I have read n tried has not touched any of it...vinegar, vodka, baking soda, oxyclean...has anyone had any success? I feel so defeated!

Prayers are easier then curse words. Best of luck.

My husband is a firefighter and comes home very smoky. I wash all his clothes and fire gear in Tide and it gets the smell out the best. You may never get it out completely but its worth a try.

I don't know about smoke, but my husband used to come home with some knarly smelling uniforms and I would dump a can of Sprite in there. Worked every time.

Thanks Annie. No luck with Tide either. I am afraid some of the fabric is beyond saving but I will keep trying.

Did u put the sprite in the wash or rinse cycle?

We had a house fire once. Professional cleaners got all smoke smell out. But many fabrics that were in the fire deteriated
sonner then thay should have.

Wash the fabrics with 1 cup of clear sudsy ammonia in the wash water.

After the washer filled and before the agitator started up. Front loads...no idea.

I don't know whether you have a top loader or front loader, but I think lots of water would be necessary in this case, so a front loader wouldn't do the job. And why are you wasting that vodka? LOL

A friend gave me some clothes she could not fit in. Her husband smokes very heavy. All the clothes some still had the sticker on smelled really strong of cig. smoke. I hung them on the clothes line for 2 days. That took the smell out. Wait until you are gonna have some clear sorta windy days and hang the fabric on the line. If there is a huge stash it might take a while to get it all aired out.

My house burned down in 2011- lost everything including my stash- insurance covered most everything to be replaced. A year later I found my friend's house burning. Her house was totaled but could get articles out or remains. Unfortunately are several cleanings by professionals, cloth items were still smoke damaged and had to be replaced. Just think of all the fun to go shopping!

You may want to try an enzyme cleaner. There used to be one called "Odor Mute" that was sold in pet stores. Removed skunk odors, kennel odors, any organic odor from clothing, carpeting and hard surfaces. Worth a try. Also, call one of the local "disaster" cleaning companies and ask them what they would use to clean cotton clothing (you don't want them to do it, just ask what they use). Just a thought....

Anita

Just read on the University of Missouri Extension Service website that the only way to get rid of the smokey odor from textiles is through a process called "ozone treatment" (an ozone generator is used). There are supposedly no chemicals or cleaners that will take the smokey odor out of the fabric. It has be to neutralized and only ozone can do it. They also say that any perfumes, Fabreze type sprays, laundry soaps, etc., will not do anything to remove the odor that only the ozone treatment can do that. I'd bet this is an expensive treatment. What your DF needs to do is tally up the amount she spent on her stash and add it to her claim for reimbursement on the insurance. I'm not sure there is anything you can really do to salvage the stash short of professionally ozoning it. :(

Hope this info helps...

Anita

She may just want to turn it into insurance.

Can you buy Snowy Bleach where you are? Years ago our neighbors house caught on fire. They split up their clothes with the neighbors to wash. The neighbors using Snowy Bleach (us) were the only ones to get the smell out of their clothing.

Good luck!

If you have a restoration company near by you can get a product from them that will remove the smoke smell and stains. Your friend can talk to her/his insurance company and normally they will cover the cost of the product, plus your water, electricity and time. We did this for my mothers neighbors about 15 years ago. I believe they worked through Servpro. All the smoke smell was gone when the clothing and other water washable items were cleaned.

Here's what I would try:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use this with loads that have bad odors -- everything from kitty accidents to old teen sweat. For a small load in my front-loader, I use a heaping teaspoon in addition to the regular soap. If it's really bad, I have used up to 1 tablespoon. If you have a top-loader or a large front-loader (mine is small), you can use more per load. It does not damage anything. Basically this is a ground-up mineral that absorbs odor, then rinses away with the water.

Several things come to mind - the first one, charcoal in a closed plastic bag for several days.
- the second one - baking soda and lemon juice wash.
- baking soda in a closed plastic bag for several days.

I don't know if any of this will work, but worth a shot. Sorry about your friend's situation. Scary.

After a fire I always washed my uniforms in detergent and threw in a healthy pour of ammonia, you can get a lemon scent that seems to give an extra boost. The ammonia not only got rid of the smoke smell but whitened my white shirt cuffs without affecting my colored uniform patches. The singed and burned pieces need to be cut off and tossed. Good luck, my condolences to your friend, even a small kitchen fire can be so devastating, not only to your home but emotionally.

The best and most effective product I have found that works every time, on every smell (including cat urine) is Odo-Ban. You can find it in pet supply stores. I recently used it on my 'Coach' brand coat with a Beaver trim collar. This is a $750 coat that was sprayed on by a friend's cat while I was visiting them. My coat was on the bed in a guest room. I'm so sorry this fire happened, but I know the Odo-Ban will do the trick....it has a very strong, yet pleasant odor itself, and it will remove the smoke smells. As for any staining, I have always had success with Oxy-Clean. Best of luck!!

I am a big fan of Odoban. I buy it at Home Depot stores in our local area. I buy only the original Eucalyptus scent. Several years ago, hubby & I bought a very pre-owned trailer to use as a camp. The original owners smoked VERY heavily in it. We tried several things to get the odor out of the fabric that decorated the walls. Nothing worked until we sprayed it down with Odoban. That was a miracle cleaner for us. We sprayed it so heavy, that the Odoban odor was actually choking me. It sat in the hot sun with the windows open for a couple of days. When we went back in, there were NO odors. To this day, you cannot tell anyone ever lit a cigarette in it.

We have a couple of dogs that do get on our upholstery fabric covered furniture. Every so often, (maybe every couple of months) I mix a couple of Tablespoons of Odoban in a quart spray bottle and soak everything down. The furniture, the pillows that my kiddos insist on sleeping on, the rugs they walk on. Everything fabric in my house that touches them. Odoban is a wonderful disinfectant and odor eater. I, also, use about a about a quarter cup in the rinse of every washer load that I do. Can you tell I love this product????

Getting the smoke smell out will be difficult but if the fabric has been subjected to extreme heat it will deteriorate more quickly over time even if it looks OK now. It doesn't take long in a fire for the heat to reach high levels even at the other end of a house where there might not be actual burning. I had a clock melt in the opposite end of a house during a fire. Even if you can get the smoke smell out I would be cautious about using the fabric on anything that you put a lot of time and work into. If the fabric was stored in a plastic bag at here house then obviously it didn't get that hot or the bag would have melted but if it was put into a plastic bag after the fire to remove it from the house then I'd be cautious about the heat damage.

I am sorry for your friend who has had the fire (and also for others who have been through this horrible experience). This has been an informative thread. I will make a note of the products mentioned that have worked successfully for some of you.

Barb, you are really sold on Odoban. I think I'll pick some up soon.

We had a house fire many years ago and all my fabrics were smoked and edges were scorched. What I found out was that the scorched places were weakened and the smoke stains would not come out Save yourself a lot of trouble and just throw it away. It won't wear very well if you do manage to save it. Such tremendous heat makes it worthless for quilts that you want to last a long time. Maybe you and some friends can just start a new stash for her.

A friend of mine had a house fire - lots of smoke - the professionals took her things to what the called an ozone room at their facility - they were stored there for some time - I'm thinking at least 2 weeks - when she got them back the were completely odor free

Thanks so much everyone! I have a Home Depot so I will look for the odo ban. I like the idea of having a stash party too! Maybe that's what I do with the leftover vodka.

This works for me. I let it soak for about 30 minutes though and I use Arm & hammer washing soda. Some times I do it twice.

What many are saying about the fabric, after being subjected to such intense heat, the fibers end up being broken down even if you can't see it. Hope all works out for your friend.

Have you tryed 20 mule team borax? I've had good success with it on smells.

Try putting the dry fabric in a large bag and putting either Irish spring or Zest bar soap and tie tightly and let it set for a week. Works for old sewing machine cases, etc.

There was afire where my son rents and all his clothes were reeking with smoke. First I washed them and then pouted Feebreeze in the machine. That took out all odors. You do need to pour a generous amount. But it worked. Nothing else did for me. Good luck

Try a cleaning additive called Odo-Ban (Home Depot carries it in the industrial cleaning supplies). I use it for EVERYTHING - laundry, carpet, floors, walls, mattresses. We had a truck crash through our house and after we were out, the house caught fire. Talk about insult to injury! I was able to save almost all of my curtains, bed clothes and clothes with Odo-Ban. Hope it helps.

So sorry for your friends fire, that is a horrible experience in itself but then when you discover that so many of your treasured objects have been ruined you get into an emotional situation. Like Joyce in DE, I have lots of fabric that I would be willing to share and if you PM me I could get a box together. Let me know what her preferences and I'll try to find something for her and if not, I will give her lots of "surprises" for her to learn to love.

Years ago my DMIL gave me a beautiful leather jacket. She smoke heavily...eeeeuuuuuwwwwww..... I'm very highly sensitive to smoke. I took the coat, put it in a large garbage bag and dumped an entire large box of baking soda in along with the jacket. I sealed it up, every few days I would go in and shake that bag for all it was worth. I left the coat in there for a month, changed the baking soda halfway through! Seriously, I did!! At the end of the month, I dumped it out, shook out the coat, (which took forever) and to my complete an utter amazement there was not one tiny whiff of smoke left in the coat! If anyone would have detected smoke smells it would be me!! To this day I am still amazed!
It took quite some time, but it was well worth it!! HTH
Also, have you thought about calling the non emergency number of your fire dept and asking their advice on what could possibly remove smoke smell?? Just a thought.
Wish you the best!

You might try OdoBan---it is a disinfedtant and eliminates odors and I get it a Sams.
Jeanne

There is a product called Natures Miracle Skunk odor remover, made for pets. It really works on a skunked dog, know this from personal experience. If it can take Skunk out of a dog, I would think it could remove smoke smell. Any pet store should have it, and I know it is online.

Let me get back to you on this, I have a friend that had a house fire a couple of years ago, and although she didn't lose her home, she did lose a lot of quilting related items and quite a bit of fabric, but she did manage somehow to get the smoke smell out.

I second the suggestion of 20 Mule Team Borax in the wash. It's really great at removing odors and is very inexpensive. Best of luck to your friend!

Maybe if you drank enough of the vodka the smoke smell would go away. It would work for me! Sorry about trying to make a joke out of your frustration.:rolleyes: