Chimney Maintenance
70Using Your Fireplace Requires Good Chimney Maintenance
Most homes built in the last several years have at least one fireplace in a central location to offer a more down home feel. Because of the issues with chimney maintenance and the need to reduce any possibilities of fire natural gas fireplaces offer an additional way to heat your living room or bedroom and provide a warm cozy atmosphere for your family.
These natural gas log fireplaces require little or no chimney maintenance as natural gas burns almost completely and does not send creosote and soot up your chimney to accumulate and create a fire hazard.
The first step to good chimney maintenance is a thorough cleaning. It is impossible to inspect the interior of a chimney of it is coated with soot and creosote. You will need to look in your local Yellow Pages or on the internet for a chimney sweep that is licensed and bonded to operate his business in your area.
I have seen many quotes for sweeping chimneys that range between one hundred ($100) and two hundred ($200) dollars. It seems a small price to pay to prevent a catastrophic house fire.
Most chimney sweeps can only give you a price quote range before actually coming out to your house to inspect the chimney. You can give them some preliminary information like the number of chimneys and how many floors you have (height of chimney) that will help him narrow down his estimate.
The better chimney sweeps will also take before and after pictures for their files and for your benefit as well. Creosote and soot build up over time and can constrict proper air flow that keeps the draft going and allow smoke to rise instead of coming out of your fireplace doors.
Once the chimney sweep arrives he will look at both the interior and exterior of the chimney. If there is visible staining on the bricks of the chimney there is probably an issue with the mortar cracking and it needs to be repaired. Other issues that a chimney sweep will find might be worn or broken fire bricks in the fire place. Not having the proper amount of fire bricks can led to cracking of the exterior bricks and the possibility of the collapse of your chimney.
Other issues could be excess heat escaping and creating a fire in the exterior of your home. The chimney sweep will also check the operation of your flue and damper system to make sure it seals and rotates properly to maintain good air flow in your chimney system. Another check that chimney sweeps make are to determine if there is any kind of rodent infestation that can cause blockage or fire hazards within the chimney.
The chimney sweep should wear protective clothing, goggles and a face mask as the materials that are being cleaned and removed from the fireplace and chimney contain carcinogens that can create a great deal of respiratory issues. During the cleaning process, the chimney sweep will lay down plastic within the fireplace and use a variety of brushes and scrapers and long poles to loosen the accumulated creosote and soot from the chimney walls.
The brushing process (sweeps use very stiff wire brushes that fit snugly in the chimney space – both round and square) loosens the hardened material that then falls down into the fireplace area. The chimney sweep will then use a vacuum system with filters to remove all of the resulting debris.
If you have been doing routine chimney maintenance, a full cleaning by a chimney sweep will actually take very little time. Once the chimney has been cleaned thoroughly the chimney sweep can make his full inspection and then send you the results either by email or snail mail. If the chimney sweep determines that there are any issues with your chimney, you will need to address them prior to making any new fires in your newly cleaned fireplace.
If you are planning on taking over the chimney maintenance tasks your self you should make sure you have the proper equipment for the job. Determine whether your chimney is round or square and measure the diameter. Once you have the diameter you can go to Lowes or Home Depot and find the right chimney brush for your chimney.
The brush needs to fit snugly within the chimney to properly remove the accumulated soot and creosote. Never buy a chimney brush that is smaller than the diameter of your chimney as you will not get enough material off the chimney walls for a proper cleaning. Conversely, buying a brush that is too big will not work as the wire brush is too stiff to flex enough to fit in a too small chimney.
