Cleaning help for a friends collections from his house fire

[Outtair]

A long time friend and collector had a house fire, started in the basement from a fan motor burning up. He has saved almost all of his collections but is dealing with cleaning of smoke and heat damage. All the pistols, rifles and knives are being cleaned with a quick dip in baking soda and water and then reoil.  He says this is working only losing a small amount of blue. His question is he has not started on his medals and badges. He states the ribbon material and metal have a gray coating on them.

Any ideas?

This is a photo of one room and you can see a collection of medals on the wall.

 

Tim

 

[Outtair]

Got him to send a close up, a sad scene

[dmar836]

That's horrible!

My mother was a claims adjuster/manager for 35yrs. She said most times after a fire, specifically kitchen fires which could be different, the ins company would pay to tear out and rebuild rather than clean and repair. Smoke damage is that pernicious and if not completely removed the effects would come back to haunt. I hope other fires like this one are less so. 

I have only little experience with one water leak and I would say anything that the fire dept got near, pull it, uncase it, and get it dry quickly. Don't wait. It's commonly known that the fire dept can do as much damage as the fire. Documents will be stuck to the glass, mold will set in, etc.

Best of luck. Hate to see that.

Dave

[Bluehawk]

Whoa... 

This isn't extremely helpful but may be a start. From the American Museum of Natural History:

 

"Collections that have been exposed to a fire may be highly compromised. Their integrity and appearance may be altered and they may be extremely fragile, especially if they are also wet. Damage caused by extremely high temperatures is irreversible.

 

Soot may contain hazardous substances including lead, arsenic, PCB’s, etc., according to what burned. As with mold, have the deposited soot analyzed, and take the advice of an industrial hygienist on correct handling and appropriate PPE before starting a cleaning program. Generally, nitrile or rubber gloves, a properly fitted respirator or mask, goggles and disposable coveralls will be recommended. If highly toxic substances are present, it may be a requirement that qualified HAZMAT professionals carry out the cleaning operation under the guidance of collections staff.

 

General rules for soot removal:

Get started as soon as possible

The longer soot stays on the surface, the harder it is to remove

Some soot is acidic and can degrade museum materials.

Prioritize cleaning sooty objects

Porous surfaces and/or intricate surfaces

Objects with charred areas and structural damage

Organic materials

More sooty to less sooty

 

Try not to touch sooty objects directly - handle as little as because handling ingrains the soot particles into the pores

Soot is so fine that it will get into every crack and onto every surface. Be prepared to clean everything that was exposed.

 

Soot removal methods:

Dry methods are preferred to anything involving water or solvents.

First, vacuum on-site with a HEPA vacuum using micro attachments and soft brushes

Follow the vacuuming with dry brushing, “soot sponges”, or kneaded erasers

 

Odors

Odors can linger and be very annoying. Smokey odors will dissipate over time, but can be reduced during the early stages of the recovery by the removal of the damaged collections and building materials. Some odors can be prevented simply by not allow the objects to become exposed. For example, the odor of mold can be prevented by quickly freezing the damaged collections to prevent mold growth.

 

After that, plenty of fresh air circulation will help. Do not use ozone as

it will degrade cellulose and other materials. However, specimens or artifacts may be placed in an enclosure with zeolites (molecular traps), which will absorb odors."

 

[ottodog8]

A friend had a similar situation. Soot is hard to deal with, but after some careful trial and error, I found Simple Green to be very effective.