How to Clean Smoke Damage From Wood

One of the great challenges of fire damage is removing smoke from wood. You may find that wooden furniture and other wooden materials have soot stains and smell of smoke after a fire occurs. This isn’t an impossible situation, however.

Just follow the right steps and return your furniture and other wooden assets to like-new condition.

1. Test It Out: You’ll first want to test to see if baking soda is effective without damaging your wood. Place a pinch of baking soda on just one corner of the wooden furniture and let it sink in for about an hour before vacuuming away.
2. Spread It Around: If the baking soda did not damage your furniture, begin to spread it over the entirety of the affected surface. Once the baking soda has soaked in for more than an hour, vacuum it up. This should begin to remove the smoke smell.
3. Start Scrubbing: Find a cleaning solution like Murphy’s Oil Soap and dab it onto a sponge. Rub the wooden surface in circles rather than scrubbing in an up-and-down motion. This helps ensure that the finish of the wood is not damaged during the process. Once finished, dry your furniture indoors. If you place it outdoors, you run the risk of warping.
4. Remove Residue: At this point, your wood should be getting back to normal. Now you want to use a citrus wood cleaner to remove any remaining residue. Apply the cleaner all over the affected surface and, again, rub gently in circles to ensure that the surface isn’t damaged.
5. Alternatives: What if baking soda does damage your wood? You have some alternatives, including coffee grounds and charcoal. What you need is an absorbent substance that will begin to pull out the smoke smell and the stains. Again, test out these items first to ensure they don’t damage your furniture.

Fire damage can be extraordinarily challenging because of how it touches and affects every area in a home. Think about smoke and how it drifts to all corners — that smoke damages almost everything in a home or apartment that experiences a fire.