Help me clean up the nuclear winter (flour fire) in my apartment

May 11, 2008 6:52 AM

I had a very small kitchen fire ... but a bag of flour was involved, causing nuclear winter in my apartment. How thoroughly should I clean up, and how?

Obviously I'm going to clean up the soot which is now ALL OVER my apartment. My problem is that the paint job, especially in the kithen and especially the cabinets, is so shoddy that (a) soot has settles into all the bubbles and flaws, making for a permanent speckled effect, and (b) cleaning (just basic damp-cloth cleaning) if revealing huge bubbles and making the paint crack and peel.

Now, the cruddy paint job was here when I moved in, and I always intended to paint over it. But this has revealed so many flaws in the cabinetry that I wonder if it's worth it. So:

Can I get rid of the visual traces of soot without repainting or hard scrubbing (which will mess up the existing paint)? And if so, what do I use?

FWIW, I'm in Toronto, I'd prefer not to use anything that might kill me, and I'm okay with methods that leave my kitchen temporarily unusable, as long as the rest of my (well ventilated) apartment is safe.

posted by sarahkeebs to home & garden (9 comments total)

My recommendation would be compressed air or vacuum cleaning. Dry on dry should be best at getting it off of things. Maybe a feather duster or static cleaner?
posted by kalessin at 7:14 AM on May 11, 2008

Yeah, I'd vacuum and dust-off as much as you can, then a spray bottle filled with water and a rag should deal with the rest.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 7:49 AM on May 11, 2008

I doubt you're ever going to get it as good as it needs to be without painting. Since the fire was your fault (not blaming you, but it's not the property owners fault) and you were going to paint anyway, perhaps it's time to do the job right?
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:05 AM on May 11, 2008

I had a similar situation...

Water was the only way I found, mostly there was a pretty fine layer over everything and in the kitchen the soot was greasy (ick!). You need a quality detergent.
(Lots of cheap stuff is the biggest joke! Less is more - so it works out cheaper anyway and stuff is sctually clean - which is the point of it in the first place.)

Wipe, clean rag and empty bucket - repeat over and over and over and over until clean. UGH!!
OR.. These cut that endless B.S. down to going over it only a couple times. (Mmm and maybe just one more if you're inclined to be meticulous.)

-A squeegee! It will be your best friend!! Use professional blades or you're just wasting your time.
-Magic Cloth*s. They will be your second best friend. ($2 at discount stores!)
-And Gumption!! Because it fixes everything!!
Wear gloves (the soot gets into your hands for days) and have fun :)

**Just a thought - what about a Steam Mop??Or hiring a Steam Cleaner? (Two different processes)
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 8:43 AM on May 11, 2008

I'd try TSP and water on a small patch first. Might work better than water alone.
posted by zippy at 9:06 AM on May 11, 2008

Note that TSP is pretty powerful and is used to prepare surfaces for painting. No problem is you plan to repaint anyway, but might wreck the finish on cabinetry.

For woodwork and cabinetry, try Murphy's wood soap, or one of those orange oil products. To get soot out of the grain of the wood, try a very soft brush. Like a mushroom brush. This should be able to sweep the dirt out of the nooks without marring the finish. Finish off with some Pledge to seal/protect/shine the wood.

Also seconding the advice to use non-wet cleaning methods first. Get a box fan to exhaust airborne particles, and/or a filter-fan to get them out. Vacuum up everything, and then maybe even use canned-air (like for computer cleaning) to get the flour out of corners. Once you get the flour wet, you are creating what amounts to glue, and this will be way harder to clean up.
posted by gjc at 9:26 AM on May 11, 2008

I've found those Swiffer Dusters to do a good job picking up dust/animal hair rather than spreading it around, if you want to give that a shot before wet cleaning. I use them for the areas where it's just too much bother to move everything, because they are very soft and easy to maneuver. Be sure to fluff them up good before using.
posted by cabingirl at 11:03 AM on May 11, 2008

Seconding Murphy's oil. That stuff is amazing.
posted by devilsbrigade at 12:15 PM on May 11, 2008

OP here:

The problem with "dry on dry" is that it works on some of it (e.g. if it landed on a pristine surface) but causes terrible smears on the rest. A Swiffer cloth seems to be working well.

@gjc & devilsbrigade: I wasn't clear, but the cabinets are painted...badly...with about a hundred layers. In some places they appear to have painted over masking tape. Repeatedly. And the bottoms of the doors have mini paint icicles.

On a positive note, melamine sponge (generic Magic Eraser) does seem to be taking a lot of it off.
posted by sarahkeebs at 8:56 AM on May 12, 2008