Wanted to add some more info. The soot is confined to this one room. It is not in the adjoining hallway or living room. There are no vents, as we do not have central heat and air. The hallway is a breezeway in the original floor plan and doors on either end open all the way. House faces North/South.

There are four objects that burn/heat things in this house. There is a brand new wood burning free standing stove in the living room but is non operational at this time, as there is no flu pipe installed, as the chimney has to be rebuilt to be code compliant. This room is undamaged. There is a butane hot water heater, which is 18 months old, that is housed in a closet in the hallway. Hallway and closet are undamaged. There is a butane heater in the kitchen and bathroom that must be lit. The bathroom is undamaged, In the Kitchen, there is soot residue on the vents of this heater, a thicker concentration of soot on the ceiling on this side of the kitchen and the fire bricks have soot on them that looks like something touched them.

My guess is, until my family member returns my call, is that something was sat over the heater. The top of the heater itself does not get hot, but the vents do and the fire bricks certainly do. There is no fire damage to the heater, other than discolored vents after I wiped off the soot.

I agree, something was put on the heater to dry and burned. They must have not noticed for a while then noticed it and got it to stop considering no other fire damage. Surprised it didn't spread and no burn markings on the floor.

Perhaps they put something on there, went to bed, and woke up to the smoke. At that point the object probably didn't hit the floor yet.

Wood or paper soot should wipe off relatively easily. If it came from burning plastic then you have other issues. A plastic fire creates a greasy, acidic soot that will corrode all the metal it touches - especially aluminum. You really need to find out quickly what burned.

The people who cleaned up our house fire used this stuff from Dollar Tree. They diluted it for most cleaning, but used it full strength in the kitchen (source of the fire). It was very tedious work to clean every inch of every surface.

I think I have some of that stuff from the dollar store! Totally Awesome. Soap and water did not budge the soot but perhaps more Dawn and less water may have. SpicNSpan got the loose stuff but the white is still dingy. Once it is all cleaned, it will likely need to be repainted. Funny enough, I like the "grey" furdown over the white cabinets and center beam contrast, so, I likely may go that direction when the time comes. :)

The really odd thing, is that there is not a strong smell of smoke. Faint, yes. Because it was evening when we arrived, it took us a moment to realize the soot. The counter top was the first give away. Then the sink. Then the cabinet by the sink. Looking around, it all came into focus. There was no odor give away, even though it had been some weeks.

It is frustrating that the family member is not calling back, to know what actually smoked up the room.

It appears that if you have trouble removing it, it is an oily soot and requires a degreaser. Usually dawn soap acts as a degreaser. I would say put some of the soap on a rag then a little water and work it into the soot. Otherwise find a different degreasing cleaner and spray it directly on the soot.

http://www.jondon.com/how-to/technical-tips/restoration-disaster-recovery/fire-and-smoke-damage/cleaning-soot-damaged-contents.html

Thank You for the link, Vith. Very helpful indeed. I was surfing the jondon website earlier, reading on different products. The link helped me figure out everything I needed to order and pick up locally.

toxcrusadr, I agree. Putz is a nicer term than I thought. I wasn't the one to give the permission but it was a lesson learned. It's a long, complicated story and it is unfortunate that this has now happened. It could be worse. Accidents happen. I get that. There is no way they did not know something big happened to fill it with enough smoke to coat the entire room and to mention nothing or even attempt to clean it up. That is what gets me. And then to walk in with 8 people for a Holiday weekend added to my being PO'd. Here;s the kicker. Said relative called on Wednesday before New Years, asking if he could go down again with his son for New Years to hunt. I told him no, that we were going with guests, and he STILL said nothing. Still no call back.

The grooves in the bead board should be fun, being all all of the walls and ceiling are bead board. Only the furdown and beam are smooth :(

My son had friend at his house & he lite candle, 1 of those tall about 12 in. fat ones way down inside a glass tube like jar, when they burn down in a not too large a room they cover the whole room with soot, son had to repaint everything in dining room. Guy had forgotten to put it out before going to bed, I think they can explode when there is mostly liquid wax at bottom of those things & become house fire. Lucky my son started being short of breath & discovered it or could have died from lack of oxygen in his sleep. People few miles from here, few years ago, had New Year's eve party & left candle burning & 5 people died that night. Did you find a round glass candle tube in trash or outside thrown somewhere? Krud Kutter would probably work well on it, it's for hard to remove greasy stuff. Should be able to get at grocery store or Home Depot or Lowes.

What kind of shape did they leave the bedrooms and bathrooms ?

Try the Awesome cleaner from any dollar type store. In fact, my sister's grocery store started carrying it too. If you buy it in the spray bottle, it is already diluted. Buy it in the bottle with the screw cap for the full strength. You can dilute it yourself or use it full strength, which may be what you will have to do. That Awesome is really good.

My suggestion would be white vinegar.

Update:

So, said relative copped to knowing something went wrong with the heater but left it on over night while they slept upstairs and turned it off the next morning. Noticed black film on the counters, and the room looking hazy but I guess the soot on the walls was not settled yet, as he couldn't tell. It is what it is.

We worked a few weekends trying to clean it up for got little done for two people. We did purchase suitable supplies. We just lacked man power and time. So, I called the a national restoration/cleaning company.

They had done some flood stuff in our residence years ago and they did a great job. Were there in a split second it seemed, when the house flooded from a washing machine. Anyhoo, the closest franchise was 99 miles away and they agreed to come.

Met with a technician on Feb 28 and we went over the work to be done. Within a few days, I had a quote in hand. We are self pay and not going through insurance. To clean the two rooms of soot and the hallway, the cost would be $1500. We thought that very reasonable and agreed.

They arrived 1.5 hours late on Monday the 20th at 11:30 and left at 5. We left the place unlocked and they came back Tuesday, I am not sure what time, but the note they left me says they were finished at 3pm.

I returned yesterday, Wednesday, and this is what I came back to. I will post a before and then an after, where I wiped it with 409. If I can wipe it clean, so can they. It should not look like smeared soot.

After cleaning, I left a message with the answering service, for the technician to call me. Little did I know that the franchise owner's name is the same, so he is the one to call me this morning. I explained my dissatisfaction with the work and send him 25-30 photos, including those from December, when the issue happened, to the pics of what I had cleaned over the months, and what it looked like after his 2 guys left, and what it looked like after I wiped some places down.

I hope to hear something tomorrow, after the morning meeting with the staff/technicians. I was not expecting the room to look like a freshly painted white room but I did expect and was led to believe, that the soot would be cleaned up and gone. There are many places it discolored the paint and I get that. I contracted to have the place cleaned up. They also did not clean the light fixtures as per contract or the 2 inch blinds on 9 windows, per contract. And the hallway was a joke. Most of it had not even been wiped at all. I am not sure how they thought we would not notice.

I have not paid one dime yet.

Kitchen Ceiling when I walked in

Kitchen ceiling after I wiped with 409

Ceiling by upper cabinets

Look what a little 409 can do.

I should not be having to deal with this. It should have been done right the first time. I feel bad for the owner, with the two schmucks that lost him money on this, because it clearly is not finished. Thing is, I will let him make it right, but I do not want either of those two guys coming back. I want someone who is conscientious about their work and actually gives a hoot.

Is there another update zookeeper? Did the guy come back and make it right? Sorry you have to deal with this. I hope you can get it resolved. Still no offer to help pay for the cleaning from the dud relative either huh? Geez, life can be worse but really, this is not fair. I hope you get it resolved and can go on and enjoy your property!

Hello Krisx2

Yes, there is another update.

On April 10, another crew from the cleaning/restoration company came out and they came well prepared with a team of 5 and their own ladders! I walked them through and showed them every wall where I had cleaned spots and told them, the job was not done. One guy that first came was with this crew but he was not the primary of last time. He apologized profusely for not having done a good job the first time.

At the end of the day, it was cleaned, top to bottom, as expected and is now ready to be primed and painted, after we do a little necessary prep-work to some old woodwork.

Thank goodness! I'm glad it's clean now. I have to wonder why the guy on the crew didn't clean it the first time.