A chimney cleaning probably isn’t something you think about doing until AFTER there is a serious problem. By then it’s something that adds stress to your already busy life. A clogged chimney can cause a chimney fire, which could potentially burn your house down.
So why wouldn’t you want to get your chimney cleaned when you first start to notice a small problem, or annually to prevent the stressful situation ahead?
A chimney cleaning removes the creosote – which is a highly flammable substance that is a by-product of burning wood – from your chimney to maintain a safe burning environment. It doesn’t matter if you have clay flue tiles, a stainless liner, or an unlined chimney they all get a buildup of creosote that can cause a chimney fire if left unchecked.
So how do you know if your chimney needs to be cleaned? 
You come home and the house smells…different, there’s a musky smell that just won’t go away no matter how many times you clean the counters and take out the trash. That smell is more than likely coming from your chimney! When you are burning wood in your fire you should get a pleasant odor from the wood rather than a musky “chimney smell”, if you don’t have a pleasant smell it’s time to have your chimney swept!
You go to build a fire in your fireplace, its cold outside the soup is in the crockpot, and you can’t get the fire going. You have done it a million times but for some reason, it just won’t pick up, or maybe you got it to pick up but it won’t stay that way, so you repeat the frustrating process of trying to get it going again. This could be from a lack of airflow in your chimney. If the creosote gets too thick inside the chimney it prevents the chimney from getting the proper airflow that it needs to maintain a good hot fire.
You just got home; you look up at your chimney and there’s black stuff at the top near the cap. You just assume that this is normal, and you walk inside only to find that black stuff is also on the face of your fireplace. This is a sign that you are getting more of a backdraft than you should! There could be a blockage in your flue or there could be leaves built up around your cap, preventing the creosote and smoke from leaving how they were designed to do.
You have your fire burning, life is good, it’s starting to warm up in the house so its time to close the damper to allow the fire to burn hotter, and the damper is stuck or is hard to move. You need to call your chimney sweep ASAP to replace the damper so that the damper does not break further or worse, fall in your fire causing a huge mess!
The National Fire Protection Agency recommends that you have the chimney inspected annually.
If you have any of these symptoms it’s time to give us a call and let us take care of your chimney! As a good rule of thumb, you should have your chimney inspected annually to ensure you do not have any problems BEFORE it gets cold.
Give us a call today 828-687-9002,
or stop in and see us, the coffee is always on!
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