New Homeowner Help/Cleaning up after the fire.

[Barnes]

Sooooo, we moved into our brand new house on the 28th. Everything's good. Last night we had some people over for a little Christmas party and at about 8:00 it was getting a little chilly in the house so I turned up the thermostat.

All of a sudden it smelled like camp fire and the the house filled with smoke. Everyone rushed around opening up windows and looking for the source of the smoke. I went downstairs and figured that the sawdust I have been too lazy to sweep up was getting sucked into the furnace and burned.

We checked all the panels of the furnace and it looked clean. I went back up and fired up the furnace and went back down to the basement and saw burning embers flying out of the little holes in the duct work in the ceiling. I shut the furnace down right away and we start to think what could be in there and where to look. I pull off the little plastic plug nearest to the furnace and shine a light in. I could see something that looked like sanding drum or a roll of tape sitting on top of the burner plates.

We cut open a hole and I reach in and grab it. It's a cardboard tape roll. The only problem is it's not even burned a little. I look a little closer and see a piece of wood wedged down right between two of the burners. We had to cut a bigger hole and I pulled out a 8" by 8" piece of laminated beam that was charred and burnt like the flame was right on it.

I am so angry right now. The furnace and duct work was cleaned on the 21st.

We were so lucky we were home. We have a 9 week old puppy and she could have died had this happened while we were at work or our house could have burned to the ground. What if we were sleeping when this happened? My fiance doesn't feel safe anymore in our brand new house. We had two small children here last night who were sleeping upstairs.

The whole house and everything in it stinks like smoke. I am cleaning everything in the house right now. Does anyone have any tips on what to do to quickly get rid of the smell? And yes I will be contacting the builder and furnace company asap but I gotta get rid of the smell.

[SarichFan]

Yikes! That's pretty scary. I'm wondering if you can take legal action here. Someone didn't do their job right and potentially could've really affected your family had you not been there.

That's scary stuff. I also wonder if you should contact the fire department, do they do any inspections? to make sure this doesn't happen again?

Good luck, and glad to hear nothing serious happened.

[prarieboy]

We had the same thing happen to us after we moved into a new (to us) house and had the furnace cleaned. Just liked you described the house filled with smoke and I had my wife and two small kids vacate the till I could clear out the smoke. The furnace company was still there at the time and they cut open the furnace and pulled out a small rubber ball and (get this) a dead gerbil which the previous owners had lost at some point. We cleared out the smoke and after a day or two there was no lingering smell at all. Hopefully you'll find it goes away on it's own. I'm glad to hear you were home at the time cause your right, it could have been a BIG problem if you weren't there to deal with it immediately.

[metal_geek]

When the flooring guys sweet up before laying the flooring, some "labours" think the cold air returns are a good place to sweep dirt into, as opposed to bending over and picking it up. Doesn't happen all the time but I've built a few homes to live in and everytime the first thing I check is what was swept into the furnace. 2 empty tape rolls, a pile of sawdust and some random plastic to date...
________
WENDIE 99

[redforever]

Smoke is such a terrible thing to get rid of since it gets in fabrics. Polished surfaces etc are easy to clean, but draperies, furniture etc, carpets, smell will linger. I would call in a company that deals with cleanups after fires, floods etc, try Ram.

[sadora]

I would contact who ever is to blame and have them pay for your house to be steam cleaned. Just out of curiosity, what builder did you go with?

[jam26]

If you're going to take legal action be sure to take lots of pictures of what you discovered.

[Flash Walken]

Vinegar.

It will remove any oils left on your walls/fabrics, and dries without a scent.

Simple white vinegar in a spray bottle, with a little water and soap for the walls/floors, and without soap for the fabric. It also shouldn't be any trouble for the fabric.

[Bobblehead]

I've only moved into one brand new home. A couple weeks in, the hot water heater stopped. You could fire it up then it would immediately shut down. The gas company was called, the guy couldn't get it figured out, so he called in a specialist, and together they worked on it for about 3 hours before they discovered a piece of wood stuck in the exhaust. It must have shifted and that's why the gas shut down (as designed to prevent CO poisoning).

[Barnes]

Thanks for all the advice. Spent the entire day cleaning every surface possible and the smell is pretty much gone. I imagine it will be totally gone in a few days. I will try the vinegar for sure if I can still smell it in a few days.

It's really sad that what happened last night was not unique. As far as naming names, I will refrain until the other parties have has a chance to address the situation.

I did take lots of pics and still have the tape roll and chunk of wood. You can also see burn marks inside the furnace.

As far as legal actions goes, the smell is relatively minor and I would rather clean my own home. What's more important is what COULD have happened or what may happen to another family because of this negligence. Also, what else may go wrong here. We've had the outdoor tap burst because they forgot to it turn off inside the house as well.

[foofighter15]

I'm very sorry to hear that, and wish you luck.
The only advice I can give is windex and febreeze cure everything

[BCReefer]

Call you local disaster restoration company, they do this all the time and they have cleaning stuff that will get rid of the smell or at least hide it.

[OracleOfCalgary]

I have heard so many horror stories about new homes lately, and this is far, far from being the worst I have heard. I have a hard time believing that Calgary was ever a city with a reputation for "hard working" people.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by fotze

Be sure to tell them that if you are not satisfied with their remedy, you will be teling lots of people the name of the company.

Unfortunately in todays day and age, they probably could careless. They most likely have a long waiting list. But I get what your saying. I think every company should be FORCED to register with the BBB and every consumer can go online and rate each company with regards to their service.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by OracleOfCalgary

I have heard so many horror stories about new homes lately, and this is far, far from being the worst I have heard. I have a hard time believing that Calgary was ever a city with a reputation for "hard working" people.

At the risk of sounding like a xenophobic idiot, I don't think it's the work ethic of Calgarians to blame here.

It's the inability to attract good workers who aren't on some kind of time-crunch.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

At the risk of sounding like a xenophobic idiot, I don't think it's the work ethic of Calgarians to blame here.

It's the inability to attract good workers who aren't on some kind of time-crunch.

Doesn't sound xenophobic to me at all. The labour shortage stinks, and people are paying for half-million dollar cardboard boxes that apparently burn down when you want to go take a shower.

I'm going to move to the northern edge of Scotland I think. Ever see how much house 150K gets you out there?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Doesn't sound xenophobic to me at all. The labour shortage stinks, and people are paying for half-million dollar cardboard boxes that apparently burn down when you want to go take a shower.

I'm going to move to the northern edge of Scotland I think. Ever see how much house 150K gets you out there?

\

That would be nice, probably stone to eh.

[chummer]

Well being a fireman Barnes that is certainly a new one to me.
Next time your house fills with smoke get everyone out and call 911.
You're doing the right thing by contacting the builder and furnace company,let them check it out and it will give you guys peace of mind.


Keep an eye on it and if you get more smoke give us a call.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by chummer

Well being a fireman Barnes that is certainly a new one to me.
Next time your house fills with smoke get everyone out and call 911.
You're doing the right thing by contacting the builder and furnace company,let them check it out and it will give you guys peace of mind.


Keep an eye on it and if you get more smoke give us a call.

Does the firedepartment send a bill if you go out like the ems?

[8 Ball]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Does the firedepartment send a bill if you go out like the ems?

Only if it's a false alarm I believe
.