Making Your Chimney Last For Years

You’re a new homeowner! Congratulations! Now you’re thinking about spending those cozy evenings sitting and enjoying a fire in your new fireplace.

But that is not to be. You move in and the next day, so does a raccoon via your chimney! You call animal control and the critter is taken away. Whew! Now for a nice fire. Except smoke backs up and messes up your nice white walls.

About then it will occur to you: this fireplace stuff is harder than you thought. There is more to maintaining and using a fireplace than just piling up logs and lighting them. Here are a few tips to help you maintain your new fireplace.

First, have the fireplace and chimney inspected. And by inspected, this does not mean you crawl in there yourself and peer up into the chimney with a flashlight, even if you do have a very powerful flashlight. You need to actually hire a certified inspector who knows what they are doing and can spot trouble.

A professional will be able to see if there are problems. If you hire a chimney sweep they will be able to tell if there are problems and recommend what you should do to fix things. Also, you need regular cleanings. This is especially important if your chimney is used to vent a wood-burning fireplace, to prevent accidental fires.

Use your damper. If you don’t close your damper when you don’t have a fire going, then a third of the money you spend in heating and cooling is flying out of your chimney. That can add up to a lot of wasted money on your utility bills.

If you don’t already have a damper, have one installed. It will make sense financially with the money you will save on utilities. Be sure to open it before you start a fire though!

Having a fireplace is a real treat, and adds warmth and personality to any home. Make sure you do your part to take care of this wonderful feature.

You want to pay attention to chimney maintenance for two reasons actually. The first is to make sure you can use and enjoy your fireplace. But the more important reason is to make sure that you don’t risk your home every time you make a fire.

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