Have A Professional Make Sure Your Chimney Is In Working Order

Posted on: 15 April 2016

There's nothing like a nice blazing fire when the weather is cold. Sitting by the fire where it's nice and warm, reading a book, enjoying watching the fire, or even having a romantic evening can really make your day better. If you do have a fireplace and you do enjoy those fires, there is one thing that is absolutely necessary for you to do. That is to get your chimney inspected and kept clean. 

Reasons to Have Your Chimney Inspected and Swept

The biggest reason to make sure that your chimney is cleaned and in good working order is that every fire you burn leaves a build-up on your chimney. That build-up is made up of things like creosote, soot, and tar. You may not think that's such a big deal. However, those things are flammable. If there is too much of these things built up on the side of your chimney, a stray spark can cause a chimney fire. Getting your chimney inspected and cleaned yearly will help to avoid those problems. 

Finding Someone to Inspect and Sweep Your Chimney

While Dick Van Dyke isn't about to show up in your front room to inspect and clean your chimney, there are chimney sweeps who will come out to inspect and clean your chimney. Part of that inspection process will make sure that the integrity of your chimney is still whole. That means making sure that your liner is still in one piece, that there are no loose bricks in the chimney itself, and that no birds or animals have damaged the chimney in any way. 

Sweeping your chimney involves doing several things. In the inspection, the sweep will see how much of a build-up you have in your chimney. Depending on how bad that build-up is and what it's composed of, the sweep may have to use more than just brushes or other mechanical means to remove it. The sweep may have to use certain chemicals as well. Those chemicals can loosen hardened creosote so that the sweep can actually clear it out of your chimney. 

If you want to make sure that you can still enjoy having fires, you need to make sure that your chimney is in good shape. The best way to do that is to make sure that you have a professional come out to inspect and clean your chimney every year. They will make sure that your chimney is in good shape, and let you know if you need to get it repaired. Contact a business, such as Early Times Home Solutions, for more information.   

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