Sponges for Disasters
Smoke Damage
The Company offers it’s Heavy Duty Contractor’s Dry Restoration Sponge (TM) for the removal of soot and dust in smoke/fire damaged areas. This sponge or similar sponges, are often referred to as the chemical sponge, the dry sponge, the soot sponge or similar names. The Restoration Sponge must be used dry. Never wet the sponge. For contractor’s, this sponge is offered in plain film and in bulk cases. For the DIY consumer, the Restoration Sponge is offered in a 2-pack with DIY instructions. For the consumer, the first sponge is for the rough clean-up of soot and dust. The sponge should be rubbed in one direction until that side is soaked with soot and dust. Then the sponge should be turned over and used on it’s second side, until that side is completely filled with soot and dust.
Depending on the DIY consumer’s experience, he (she) can either discard the sponge or vigorously shake the sponge to remove the soot and dust from each side separately, and then re-use the sponge, as contractor’s do based on their long-time experience. The second sponge is provided for the final clean-up of the effective area, once again, using one side of the sponge and then the second side of the sponge. For prolonged product life, the Restoration Sponge Sponge should be stored away from sunlight. Do not use on greasy or other surfaces that could be cleaned with liquid cleansers.
The 2-pack Heavy Duty Contractor’s Dry Restoration Sponge (TM) is available across Canada through Rona Hardware and Reno-Depot under Rona item #79505010.
Flood Damage
As the readers of this website know, there is the increase in incident of floods and flood damage. The Company has offered for many years what it considers the best sponge for cleaning flood damaged environments. Any sponge ought to be able to absorb, but not all sponges can expel or cleanse themselves of the liquid and the debris that they take in. In a flood damaged environoment, there is often an excess of sand, grit, dirt and other debris that have accumulated. Unless the sponge being used (once the excess of water and physical matter have been removed from the damaged environment) can rinse cleanly, the interior channels of that sponge will become clogged with the dirt, grit, sand and debris of the flood damaged environment. This can cause the home owner to use an inordinate number of sponges to clean the flood damaged environment.
What is required is a sponge that not only absorbs, but rinses cleanly. A flood damagedenvironment is, at best, a challenging environment. The best sponge for such a flood damaged environment, in the opinion of the Company, is a Coarse Pore Reticulated Polyester Sponge, which has the mechanical and technical parameters that best approximate the attributes of a natural sponge product, which by price and availability would not normally be used. In other words, if air can easily pass through a natural sponge, then similarly, liquid ought to to pass through as easily. The same test can be made on a manufactured sponge product. The manufactured sponge product that comes closest to a natural sponge product is the Reticulated Polyester Sponge product with its coarse pore structure for the challenge of a flood damage environment.
There are numerous sponges that have great absorption characteristics; however, they do not exhibit the same rinseability characteristics, which a flood damaged environment with an excess of sand, grit, dirt and other debris, require. The Coarse Pore Reticulated Sponge is normally used in an automotive cleaning environment were vehicles, particularly those vehicles that have gone “off road”, have experienced a large accumulation of dirt or dust.
Across Canada, customers can purchase this coarse pore Reticulated Polyester Sponge at Home Hardware as the product is listed in all its warehouses under Home item #8658-892 for a 1-pack of the Coarse Pore Reticulated Sponge or alternatively, Home item #8658-829 for a 3-pack of The Very Best Sponge (TM), which includes 1 Coarse Pore and 2 Fine Pore Reticulated Sponges. (The Fine Pore sponges may be used for the final clean-up, once the “heavy lifting” of the flood damage has been accomplished).
