It’s heartbreaking to see our home being gutted by a fire. It’s a traumatic experience that we wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially if the whole thing burns down and nothing is left of it.

Some homeowners, however, are fortunate enough to end up with a home that is only partially razed. That means they have the opportunity to restore their homes to the way they were before the fire. All they have to do is call a reputable fire damage restoration company, and it will just be a matter of time before their homes are back to their former glory.

The question, however, is if they can stay or live there during the entire fire restoration process.

Whether you can stay in your home during fire restoration depends heavily on the extent of the fire damage. If the fire only damaged, say, the kitchen, then maybe you can stay there while restoration work is going on. However, if the damage is extensive and affects many areas of your home, it would be best not to get in the way of the fire restoration technicians doing their job.

Then again, we must keep in mind that a house fire does more than burn things down. Long after the flames have been put out, your partially burned home will still have sustained smoke damage, which makes your house unsafe.

Even when the fire-damaged only one room in your home, the smoke damage will still affect the entire house. Soot and that burnt smell will still be all over the place, and breathing it for hours on end can cause several health problems.

The respiratory issues alone should make you think twice about staying in a house with smoke damage. Just shortly after breathing in soot, you are likely to experience sinus and breathing problems. Headaches are also a common consequence of constantly inhaling that smoky smell. Your skin and eyes may also become irritated by prolonged exposure to smoke damage.

Worst of all, there’s the very real danger of asbestos exposure. For all you know, your home is contaminated with the mineral, especially when it’s a little on the older side. Without a doubt, the fire would have dispersed the very fine asbestos fibers all over your home. If they get into your lungs, you will become at risk for mesothelioma, which is a type of cancer that has no cure.

Being attached to your home and staying there while it’s still being restored after a fire is understandable. You might also be averse to spending money on temporary living quarters for your family like a hotel room or an apartment, and that’s fine. The risks of staying in a house with smoke damage, however, far outweigh the benefits. So just have a little more patience and let the fire restoration technicians do their job. You can rest assured that by the time they’re done, you’ll be staying in a home that is good as new, and very safe, to boot.