Fireplace Chimney Cleaning

Have you recently purchased a home with one or more fireplaces? Was anything about the condition of the chimney or chimney flashing mentioned in the inspector’s report? If the fireplace and chimney were not specifically mentioned in the report it would be a good idea to have your chimney inspected and have a combined fireplace chimney cleaning scheduled before any attempts to light a fire in your new fireplace.

If the chimney was not used much by the previous owners there still could be issues with the firebricks in the fireplace, loose bricks in the chimney itself, problems with the chimney flashing, issues with the operation of the chimney flue and the problem of rodents in the chimney.

There are many residential cleaning companies that include fireplace and chimney cleaning in their list of services, but due to the specialized nature of the fireplace and chimney you may want to look for an old fashioned chimney sweep.

Creosote is a flammable by product of fires and deposits build up on chimney walls over time. How fast the deposits occur depends on the number of fires you have, what kind of wood and how long every fire lasts. Softer woods like pine will be smokier and also leave a great deal more creosote and soot than harder woods like maple and cherry.

Excessive build up of both creosote and soot reduce the amount of draft that the chimney needs to help smoke rise out the chimney top. If the deposits get to great you may have issues similar to not opening the flue far enough – that is, smoke coming out of the opening or fireplace doors.

There is nothing worse than having smoke pour out of your fireplace and not being able to stop it. It creates a cleanup problem where you will need to have all the upholstery and carpet cleaned and you will need to wipe down the walls AND ceiling to get rid of the smell and discoloration.

There are creosote and soot inhibitors that you can burn with your regular source of fuel for your fire that will minimize the amount of creosote and soot that can stick to your chimney walls. Regular cleaning will reduce the risk of fire. Depending on the type of fireplace and chimney you have you may want to make an attempt to clean it yourself.

While living in Indiana, our home had a cast iron wood burning stove in the living room that when burning well could heat the entire house. You did not want to be in the living room itself though as it usually got over eighty five degrees at its hottest. The fireplace had fire bricks lining the inside and was easily cleaned with a shop vacuum and filter to keep the ashes from blowing throughout the house.

The chimney pipe was six inches in diameter and vented through the ceiling. One issue we had was a leak around the chimney box during very hard rain storms. After some investigation we found that the chimney flashing was installed over the shingles instead of under and with normal rain the water flowed over the flashing, but when it was a hard driving rain, the water got under the shingles and leaked down the chimney pipe.

The chimney pipe, as stated before, was six inches in diameter and consisted of two foot sections of pipe with tapered ends that fit together with metal screws. It was very easy to disassemble and clean the chimney pipes by removing them and taking them outside.

I was able to purchase a six inch wire chimney brush head and a three foot twisted metal wire handle. You could buy extension rods for the handle and brush head in three foot sections. The total cost for my chimney brush kit was under thirty dollars and I was able to clean my chimney pipes whenever I felt it was necessary.

The average cost for a fireplace chimney sweeping runs between ninety nine ($99) and one hundred fifty nine ($159) dollars depending on what the service man sees once he has inspected the chimney.

Prices depend on the length of the chimney and how much build up there is. Chimney sweeps should be licensed and bonded in your state and will inspect your fireplace for safety issues and quote a repair cost if needed.

It's all about fireplace chimney cleaning in the long run.

Chimney Maintenance
Chimney Clean Out