Soot-cleaning area

Only when the floor finish itself gets surface-cleaned rather than removed. Walls and ceiling always count because smoke films every reachable surface. If the flooring is being torn out and replaced, leave the floor out of the cleaning SF and scope it as removal instead — otherwise you double-dip. This calculator keeps the floor optional for exactly that reason: add it when you're wiping down a sealed or hard floor, skip it when carpet or pad is coming out.

For a cleaning scope, most estimators don't. The labor to HEPA-vacuum and sponge runs across trim, casing, and the wall around each opening, so a gross perimeter-times-height number tracks the real work better than a net one. This tool follows that convention and does not subtract openings, which leaves the SF slightly conservative. If a room has an unusually large opening — a wide slider or a missing wall — measure that surface out separately.

Use the actual measured height. The tool defaults to 8 ft because that covers most residential rooms, but vaulted, cathedral, and two-story spaces climb fast and the wall SF scales directly with height. For a sloped ceiling, average the low and high wall heights before you enter a value, and scope the ceiling plane itself off its true area. Getting height right matters more than any other input here, since it drives the whole wall figure.

It depends on the char and the substrate. Light-to-moderate smoke residue on painted drywall, sealed wood, and hard surfaces typically cleans and then gets sealed and repainted. Heavy soot, protein residue that won't release, or scorched and delaminated material usually gets removed. Scope the cleanable surfaces with this calculator, then handle removal separately so the file shows exactly why each surface was cleaned versus torn out — that split is what holds up on review.