Fire, smoke & odour
Smoke odour removal
Getting the smell out for real, which means finding what is still holding it before anything is sprayed, fogged or run through the air. Masking a smell with a source still in the building is a trick, not a treatment.
Smoke odour is not a smell floating in the air. It is compounds bound into whatever porous material the smoke touched — insulation, unsealed timber, drywall, some fabrics — releasing slowly for as long as that material stays in the building.
So the sequence runs source first. Charred debris and anything porous past the point of cleaning comes out before any equipment runs. Only then does a finishing tool — fogging, hydroxyl, ozone — reach what a cloth cannot.
Source first, and it is the part that does most of the work
Wherever smoke reached, it soaked into anything absorbent — carpet padding, insulation, unsealed framing, some ceiling tiles. These hold odour the way a sponge holds water, and past a point cleaning them does not empty them.
Past that point the honest step is removal, not more treatment. Framing that is structurally sound is usually sealed rather than replaced; insulation almost never is, because it cannot be cleaned in any way that matters.
The finishing tools, used the way they are meant to be used
Thermal fogging heats a deodorising agent into a fog designed to travel the same paths the smoke did — into cracks, behind trim, up into a void. Hydroxyl generators work more slowly and can run in an occupied space.
Ozone is faster and more aggressive, and it runs in an unoccupied space only — no people, pets or plants inside while it runs, aired out fully before anybody returns. That is how the equipment is meant to be used.
Why we will not promise you 'odour-free'
You will see the word certified beside a great many odour treatments advertised in this borough. We do not print it about this service, or any other — nobody can certify a smell gone.
Some materials never fully release what they have absorbed. Heavily saturated carpet padding and some insulation are usually better replaced than chased indefinitely, and we will tell you when that is the honest answer.
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Included as standard
What the job actually includes
Source identification
What is still holding the odour, found before any equipment runs.
Removal of what cannot be deodorised
Saturated insulation and other porous materials past the point cleaning helps.
Sealing exposed framing where it has absorbed smoke
So sound timber does not keep releasing odour into a closed room.
Thermal fogging matched to how the smoke travelled
Reaching cracks, voids and behind trim the way the smoke did.
Hydroxyl or ozone treatment, chosen for the space
Hydroxyl where you stay in the building; ozone only once unoccupied.
A written note on anything we could not fully treat
Named honestly rather than quietly re-treated at your expense.
When to call us
Signs this is the job you need
- A smell that fades and returns, especially on humid days
- An odour only noticeable when the heating or air conditioning runs
- A room that seems fine until curtains or upholstery are touched
- A smell that lingers weeks after the visible cleaning elsewhere finished
- An odour concentrated at one wall, floor void or closet
- Candles or sprays that mask it for an hour and then stop working
Smoke odour removal — what it costs
- Treatment of an affected residential area, after cleaning and before reinstatement.$1,400 – $7,600
This is the range this job actually lands in, not a headline figure. The low end is a straightforward version of the work; the high end is one with a hard access problem, an old service, or something that has to be opened up before anybody can be certain. We tell you which one you have after we have looked, and the written quote says where the price could still move and why.
Questions we are actually asked
Odour removal — frequently asked
Can you guarantee the smell will be completely gone?
No, and anybody who prints that word is promising something nobody can deliver. We find and remove what is holding the odour, treat what remains, and tell you honestly if a material is unlikely to ever fully release it.
Is ozone safe to run while we are still living there?
No. Ozone runs only in a fully unoccupied space — no people, pets or plants — for a set period, aired out fully before anybody returns. Where you need to stay, a hydroxyl generator is the right tool, and it takes longer.
Do I need my carpet padding replaced instead of treated?
Often, yes, once it has taken on real odour. Padding holds a smell the way a sponge holds water, and past a point treating it repeatedly costs more than replacing it once. We will tell you which side of that line yours is on.
Related work
Often needed alongside this
Soot removal
Soot is acidic and it keeps eating surfaces until it is taken off — which is why this is urgent and not cosmetic.
$3,200 – $18,000
Duct cleaning
The ductwork is how soot and odour reach rooms the fire never touched, and it is the step most often skipped.
$900 – $3,800
Contents cleaning
Cleaning what came out of the building, on a bench, with the ones that will not clean set aside and listed.
$1,200 – $9,000
Air scrubbing
Negative air and filtration that keep the work zone's problems inside the work zone.
$180 – $340Somebody who does the work will come and look
Book a visit
Telephone and you will get somebody on this crew rather than a call centre, at any hour. The emergency assessment is free inside our service area and you keep the written findings whether or not you use us. If what you describe will keep until the morning, we will tell you that instead of sending a van.