We had a grease fire in the kitchen yesterday, a fairly serious one. The stove is ruined and the fire department pulled out the range hood, the cabinet above it, the drywall and insulation. I was not home at the time (at work as I am now) but my husband was there. He called 911 but was trying to contain the fire while waiting for them to arrive. He’s had emphysema for quite a few years so it doesn’t take much to impair his breathing even further, and he ended up spending about 3 or 4 hours in the ER.
We spent the night elsewhere last night but are not sure how soon we’ll be able to move back in. There’s still a fairly strong odor of smoke and my husband is concerned that it will be hazardous for him to spend more than a few minutes in the house for an extended period. He goes to pulmonary rehab at the hospital and he (coincidentally) has an appointment with our family doctor this morning, so he can get some medical opinion on this, but I’m wondering if any of you have experience with this. Any idea how long it might take for the smoke smell to dissipate? Should he still be concerned for a period of time afterwards? Any information would be helpful.
He will certainly get the right advice from his Doc.
As for the smoke smell, well in most cases all Sheetrock is removed and I guess it’s about how good your insurance is as to what is replaced. When my daughter had a fire that was contained to a kitchen cabnet, everything was replaced. House was gutted. She had very good insurance and that covered her cost of temp housing. The biggest problem she had was with the telephone company when it was time to reconnect the re-routed phone line back, they gave her a new number! Who would want that! After about a week of back and forth she got her number back.
Good to hear about your daughter getting everything replaced. We’re concerned that they may only want to cover replacement of the damaged cabinets, meaning nothing would match. My husband is waiting at the house now for the first claims person to show up so hopefully we’ll know more about where we stand in a few hours.
Without knowing a wide variety of more specific details, it’s hard to say for sure. Obviously an active fire will produce hundreds of different chemical byproducts, most of which will acutely impair respiration, even without COPD/emphysema. But for just the lingering smell? Hard to say. My WAG based on a smaller fire and moderate grade of COPD would be possibly, but probably not likely and probably manageable. Typically you can smell the odor of smoke in something long after the major compounds aren’t being actively outgassed into the air and at typically lower levels than would cause something like a COPD exacerbation. His doc will know more about his situation and be able to make a better guess.
A friend had some kitchen cabinet damage (from water vs. fire, as I recall) and they actually wound up replacing all - precisely because of the issue with matching.
Your insurer might not volunteer that fact, however. And of course depending on the age and brand, it’s possible your cabinets might still be available.
Depending on what they’re made of, newer cabinets containing particle board might have some outgassing issues anyway (no cite, just something I vaguely recall reading somewhere).