Your House Survived the Fire.
Your Nose Hasn't Forgiven It Yet.
Professional smoke odor removal in Oklahoma City. I don't mask it — I hunt the molecules.
The fire's out. The damage is patched. But your house still smells like smoke — and it's been weeks. Maybe months. You've tried baking soda, vinegar, Febreze, charcoal bags, even Kilz. Nothing sticks. I'm Phil Sheridan, owner of 4D Restoration, and smoke odor removal is a solvable problem — with the right equipment and the right process.
I Know You've Tried Everything
The fire's out. The damage is patched. The insurance company paid for the repairs. But your house still smells like smoke — and it's been weeks. Maybe months.
You've tried what everybody tries. Baking soda in bowls on the counter. Vinegar on the walls. Febreze on the furniture. Those charcoal bags from Amazon that promised to "absorb odors naturally." You probably rented an ozone machine from the hardware store, ran it for two days, and thought it worked — until the next humid week brought the smell right back.
Then you painted the walls with Kilz. Twice. Better for a few days. Then rain.
Most people try three or four things before they call me. That's OK. The problem isn't that you didn't try hard enough. The problem is that smoke odor from a fire isn't a surface problem — and everything you tried was designed for surfaces.
Here's what's actually going on inside your walls.
Why the Smell Won't Leave
Smoke particles from a house fire are 0.1 to 4 microns in diameter. A human hair is 70 microns. These particles are small enough to pass through drywall, embed in insulation, settle into carpet pad fibers, and travel through every inch of your HVAC ductwork.
They don't just sit ON your walls — they bond with porous materials through a process called adsorption. The soot becomes part of the material at a molecular level. That's why wiping down surfaces and spraying air freshener doesn't work. You're cleaning the skin when the problem is in the bones.
Here's the part that makes Oklahoma homes especially vulnerable: on humid days — and in Oklahoma, that's June through September — water molecules bond with those embedded soot compounds and carry them back into the air. The smell isn't "coming back." It never left. Humidity reactivates it.
That's also why the ozone machine seemed to work at first. It oxidized the particles floating in the air. But it couldn't reach the soot embedded in your drywall, your insulation, or the return air plenum of your HVAC system. Different problem. Different tool.
Smoke odor is just one part of fire damage. Soot corrosion, water from firefighting, and structural concerns all need attention too. Learn more about full fire & smoke damage restoration →
Why Baking Soda and Kilz Didn't Fix It
Everything you tried was designed for a different kind of odor.
Baking soda and vinegar neutralize surface-level odors — cooking smells, pet accidents, the inside of a fridge. They work on contact. Smoke odor from a structural fire isn't sitting on the surface waiting to be wiped off. It's embedded.
Kilz and shellac primers seal odor at the paint surface. They're effective when the odor source is the wall itself. But if the soot is behind the drywall — in the framing, in the insulation, in the electrical boxes — sealing the surface just traps it. Then humidity pushes it right through the primer.
Consumer ozone machines (the ones you can rent for $80/day) treat air volume with low-concentration ozone. Professional ozone treatment uses higher concentrations, runs for longer cycles in sealed environments, and — this is the part the rental place doesn't tell you — it only works AFTER the soot source has been removed. Ozone without source removal is air freshener with extra steps.
None of these are bad products. They're just not designed for what fire smoke does to a house.
What I Actually Do About It
I start the same way every time: walk the property, room by room, with a moisture meter and my nose. I'm checking which materials are contaminated versus which just absorbed airborne smell. I check the HVAC system because smoke doesn't stay in one room — it goes everywhere your air goes. I take photos and document everything for your insurance claim. My background in insurance inspections means I know exactly what adjusters need to see.
Then I go to work.
Source removal comes first. I HEPA-vacuum every accessible surface — walls, ceilings, structural framing. HEPA filtration captures 99.97% of particles at 0.3 microns. That includes soot. If the HVAC ductwork is contaminated, I clean or replace the filters and treat the ducts.
Then I treat the embedded odor. A thermal fogger heats a deodorizing agent to over 1,000°F and creates a dry smoke. That smoke follows the exact same path as the original fire smoke — behind walls, into ducts, under baseboards, through every crevice the fire smoke found. Except instead of leaving soot, it leaves a neutralizing agent that bonds with the odor molecules and breaks them apart.
For whole-house treatment, I run hydroxyl generators. They produce hydroxyl radicals — the same molecule that cleans the atmosphere naturally — that break down odor compounds at the molecular level. They're safe for people, pets, and plants. You don't have to leave your house while they run.
If a room needs it, I'll run professional-grade ozone in a sealed space. Not the rental machine. A commercial unit at the right concentration for the right duration.
The whole time, HEPA air scrubbers run continuously to catch anything that gets stirred up.
How I Know It's Gone — Not Just Masked
I take air quality readings — VOC levels and particulate counts — before I start and after I finish. If the post-treatment readings show clean, it IS clean. I don't rely on sniff tests alone because your nose adapts to any smell you live with. That's called olfactory fatigue. After a few weeks in a smoke-damaged house, you can't smell it anymore. Your guests can. Your nose is lying to you. Numbers don't. I use the same verification process on all my odor removal work.
I give you the before-and-after readings. If you want a follow-up check two weeks later, I'll come back and retest. No charge.
Your Insurance Probably Covers This
Here's something most people don't realize: smoke odor removal is part of your original fire claim. Same event, same claim number. It's a supplemental line item — not a new claim. Filing a supplement doesn't raise your rates or count as a second loss.
I document the odor treatment in Xactimate — the same estimating software your insurance adjuster uses. Every line item, every process, every piece of equipment gets logged in a format the adjuster already recognizes. I file these with adjusters every week. This isn't new territory for me.
If you're not sure what's covered, call me. I'll look at the damage, tell you what it needs, and help you understand what your policy does and doesn't include. The assessment is free.
Walk In. Breathe. Clean Air.
You've been living with this smell long enough. It doesn't have to be permanent. Smoke odor removal is a solvable problem with the right equipment and the right process. If your belongings also need treatment, I handle professional content cleaning too.
When we're done, you'll walk in your front door and the first thing you'll notice is: nothing. No smoke. No chemical. Nothing but your house smelling like your house again.
Call me. 405-896-9088. Phil Sheridan, 4D Restoration. I'm your Edmond neighbor, not a 1-800 number.
Not ready to call? Text me a photo of the damage. I'll tell you what I see.
Common Questions About Smoke Odor Removal
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=01 "I painted the walls with Kilz after the fire — why do I still smell smoke?" ▶ ENTER
Kilz and other shellac-based primers seal odor at the painted surface. They work well for surface-level staining. But after a fire, soot particles don't stay on the surface — they embed behind the drywall, in the insulation, in electrical junction boxes, and in the framing. Sealing the surface traps these particles inside the wall. When humidity rises, moisture pushes those odor compounds right through the primer. You didn't do anything wrong — Kilz just isn't designed for embedded soot. We need to treat the source behind the surface before sealing it.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=02 "What's the difference between thermal fogging and ozone treatment for smoke smell?" ▶ ENTER
They solve different parts of the same problem. Ozone (O³) oxidizes odor particles floating in the air — it's effective on active airborne smell. Thermal fogging heats a deodorizing agent until it turns into a dry smoke, which penetrates the same crevices the original fire smoke reached — behind walls, into HVAC ducts, under baseboards. For most smoke-damaged homes, I use both: ozone for the air, thermal fogging for the structure, and hydroxyl generators for ongoing molecular breakdown. One method alone rarely finishes the job.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=03 "I rented an ozone machine from the hardware store and it didn't work — why?" ▶ ENTER
Consumer rental ozone machines are typically underpowered for structural smoke odor. They treat the air volume of a room, but they can't reach soot embedded in drywall, insulation, or ductwork. Professional units run at higher ozone concentrations for longer cycles in sealed environments. But here's what the rental place won't tell you: ozone treatment only works after the soot source has been physically removed. Running ozone over surfaces still coated in soot is like putting air freshener on a dumpster. You need source removal first, then ozone.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=04 "How long does professional smoke odor removal take?" ▶ ENTER
It depends on the scope. A single room with light smoke damage: 1-2 days. A whole-house treatment after a structural fire: 3-7 days, sometimes longer if the HVAC system is heavily contaminated or if insulation needs to be addressed. I'll give you a realistic timeline on the first visit based on what I find — not a guess, a plan I can stick to. I'd rather tell you 5 days and finish in 4 than promise 2 and need 6.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=05 "The smoke smell comes back every time it gets humid — is that normal?" ▶ ENTER
Completely normal, and actually useful information. When humidity rises, water molecules bond with soot compounds that are trapped in porous materials — drywall, carpet fibers, wood framing — and release them into the air. The smell isn't "coming back." It never left. It's being reactivated by moisture. This is actually diagnostic: if the smell gets worse on humid days, it tells me the embedded soot hasn't been addressed — only the surface has. In Oklahoma, where summer humidity regularly exceeds 80%, this is especially common.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=06 "Does smoke odor removal cost extra on top of my fire insurance claim, or is it included?" ▶ ENTER
In most cases, smoke odor removal is covered under your original fire claim as a supplemental line item. Same event, same policy number. It's not a new claim — it's an addition to the existing one. I document the odor treatment in Xactimate, which is the same estimating software your insurance adjuster uses, so there's no translation needed. Filing a supplemental claim doesn't count as a second loss and shouldn't affect your rates. If you're not sure what your policy covers, call me and I'll help you figure it out before we start.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=07 "How do you know the smoke smell is actually gone and not just covered up?" ▶ ENTER
I verify with air quality readings. I take baseline measurements — VOC levels and particulate counts — before treatment starts, and I take them again after treatment is complete. If the post-treatment readings are clean, the air IS clean. I don't rely on sniff tests alone because olfactory fatigue is real: after living in a smoke-damaged house for a few weeks, your brain stops registering the smell. Your nose adapts. Numbers don't. I'll give you the before-and-after readings, and if you want me to come back in two weeks and retest for peace of mind, I will. No charge.
Still Smelling Smoke? Call Phil.
Call, Text, or Send Me a Photo.
I answer my phone. I'll walk you through what happens next. Free assessment, no obligation.
"They do exactly what they say. So professional!"
— M.R., Norman, OK
"They showed up very quickly, explained everything clearly, took great photos and notes for insurance."
— Brittany Venable
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