Fire damage cleaning in Clapham, Battersea and Balham.

Fire damage cleaning is the removal of smoke residue, soot and heat damage from a property, and it always covers more of the building than the fire did. Smoke moves. It goes into fabric, carpet, plaster, ductwork, the backs of fittings and the voids, and in a house split into flats it goes up the common stairwell into homes that never saw a flame.

Ordinary cleaning does not shift it, and the smell returns every time the heating goes on. A property cleaned only where the marks are can look finished and still be unsellable, unlettable and unpleasant to live in weeks later.

The teams we refer to work with degreasers, dry-sponge soot removal, extract and duct cleaning, and ozone or hydroxyl odour treatment. Most of this work is paid for by an insurer, so the documentation carries nearly as much weight as the cleaning.

The work runs in layers, from assessment through residue removal to odour, and the order matters. Clean the surfaces before the ducts are done and the smell comes straight back out of the vents a fortnight later.

Assessment maps three zones: what burned, what the smoke reached, which is always larger, and anything structural that needs a surveyor before cleaning starts. In a converted house that map usually crosses into the stairwell and the flats either side, which is the point at which the freeholder's insurer joins the conversation. Photographs are taken throughout for the claim.

Soot comes off dry first. Specialist sponges lift it from walls and ceilings without smearing it into the plaster, and heavier deposits are then degreased with industrial chemistry. Carpet, curtains and soft furnishings are judged item by item: what can be saved is cleaned and treated, what cannot is bagged, photographed and itemised for the insurer.

Extract and duct cleaning is the part that decides whether the smell comes back. Kitchen extract runs, bathroom fans, trickle vents and any ducted system hold smoke deposits and release them for months. Skipping it is the single most common reason a fire-damaged flat still smells in September after a June fire.

Odour treatment follows, with ozone or hydroxyl equipment. Ozone is stronger and needs the space empty while it runs. Hydroxyl is slower and can run with people in the building, which matters in a converted house where the flat upstairs is occupied and nobody has anywhere else to go. Both work on the smell itself rather than covering it.

Documentation runs alongside all of it: scope of work, photographs, an itemised list of what was disposed of, and a completion certificate. Where the policy allows it, the team deals with the loss adjuster direct.

Mid-claim is the worst possible time to be comparing three scopes of work, chasing three quotes and explaining the same fire to three strangers. We do the matching once, on our side, and hand you the team that fits the job.

The fit is not decorative. A tenanted flat that has to be re-let has a different priority to a family home the family is still living in, and a leasehold flat where the freeholder insures the building needs a team that will write one scope both insurers can read.

The team handles the adjuster, but our brief means they arrive at the assessment already knowing the claim status, the access and the deadline. That usually saves several days at the front end of the job.

It costs you nothing. The team quotes the insurer or quotes you direct, and we are paid by them for the introduction, so nothing we do sits on your bill. We name the firm and tell you what we checked before they attend.

We do not carry out fire damage cleaning ourselves, and we will not pretend otherwise. We refer it to vetted specialist teams who cover South West London and travel. Which team gets the job depends on what the case actually needs, who can be at the property in the window you have, and whether anyone is living there.

Lead specialist for fire damage cleaning: a vetted specialist team that covers South West London. Fire work goes to a team we have checked on documentation as well as method: a scope of work, a photographic record and a completion certificate an adjuster will accept, alongside the extract and odour equipment the job needs. We check insurance, waste licensing and, where the property is occupied, DBS status, and we tell you the firm and what we checked before anyone attends.

Also available: a travelling specialist team and a second vetted team on the same checks. Used where a job needs certification, equipment or capacity that the South West London teams do not hold. Used when the first team is committed elsewhere, or when the job needs a bigger crew or a longer run of days.

You don't pick the team yourself. On our call after you submit the form we match your case to the right one, tell you who it is and what we checked, and hand over the brief. You pay them directly. We never add a markup.