Getting Your Fireplace Or Woodstove Ready For The Winter Heating Season

If you heat with wood or supplement your home's heat system with a fireplace or woodstove, getting ready for the winter wood-burning season means cleaning and inspecting the chimney on your home. A chimney sweep should check the chimney and flue system in the house before burning any wood, even if you used it the proviso year, and having a chimney sweep come clean and inspect it is a great starting point.

Cleaning The Chimney

The first step in getting your chimney for the heat seasons is for the chimney sweep service to go up and the roof and check the top of the chimney and the cap. The cap will need removing to clean the chimney, but it is essential that the connection between the cap and the brick or pipe is intact. 

Once the cap is carefully removed, the chimney sweep will run a special brush down the chimney to knock off any site and creosote from the inside walls and into the firebox below. Once the walls are clean, the chimney sweep can use a camera to look at the inside of the pipe or the tiles in a brick chimney. 

Any damage to the tiles or the pipe inside the chimney is noted, and the chimney sweep service will let you know about it. The stove or fireplace should not be used if there is damage or cracks that could allow heat to escape through them and into the house's walls. A small ember that gets into the wall could start a fire and do a lot of damage to the home. 

Cleaning The Flue

Once the chimney is clean, the chimney sweep will move inside the house, clean out the firebox, and then inspect the flue system to ensure it is in good condition and functions properly. This is an essential step because if the flue is not opening correctly, your home will fill with smoke, and if it is not closing, small animals and cold air could enter the house through it. 

Making Repairs

If there is something wrong with the flue, you will need to have a chimney repair service come and fix it. Damage to the chimney can be assessed and repaired at the same time in many cases. Often if a tile is cracked in the chimney, the repair service can put a metal liner in to create a new chimney within the existing one. 

While most chimney sweep services specialize in cleaning the chimney, they often can do some repairs and recommend someone if they do not. Having the chimney inspected and cleaned every year is the best way to ensure it stays in good shape and works correctly. 

To learn more information, reach out to chimney sweeping services near you. 


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