The fireplace is often the go to sport for family gatherings and a great place to cuddle up on the coldest of winter nights. While the fireplace is for many, a wonderful addition to the home, it can also become a source of danger to the home and family if not properly maintained. Improper chimney care can lead to a fire starting inside of your chimney. Even with routine ash cleaning your fireplace can be at risk due to cresote, the unburned energy that builds up on the inner surfaces of your chimney.

Preventing Chimney Fires

No company can guarantee that you will never experience a house fire due to your chimney. We can however help to minimize this issue with proper chimney maintenance.

The second cause of house fires is a result of heating equipment. Two out of every three of these fires are a result of heating appliance problems, including fireplaces, chimneys, and wooden stoves.  Of all of the fires that begin in the fireplace, most of these are from creosote buildups. This unfortunate fact is even more sad because most of them are preventable with regular inspections.  Before your home becomes part of these statistics, you should look into scheduling an inspection.

Cleaning Your Chimney

Frequent cleanings of your chimney will remove creosote and soot buildup. Sadly there is no common piece of advice on how often this should be done. Every chimney needs to be cleaned based on how often your fireplace is used. You can never keep it 100% creosote-free, but you can help prevent it from hardening onto the surfaces and causing a fire hazard.

Monitoring Your Chimney

So how can you know if your house is due for a cleaning? Obviously, if smoke is noticed to be flooding into your home, a layer of soot build-up on your furnishings, or even darker colored smoke erupting from the top of your house, is a sign that your fireplace should be inspected for creosote issues. However, it should be noted that underlaying problems may exist even without these notable symptoms. Every fireplace is different and until you know the tell-tale signs of build-up within yours, you should schedule frequent inspections.

The entire inspection process takes less than 2 hours and involves a thorough and detailed look into your chimney and fireplace. The best course of action is to get a fireplace inspection at least once a year, or risk becoming another fireplace chimney statistic.