Move any items from the fireplace or hearth area which are very valuable, fragile, or irreplaceable. Since we have to be in and out, secure your pets. Feel free for your children to watch and have them ask questions, as well, about fire safety in the home. Our policy is that payment be made the day of service. We accept cash or checks and no credit cards. If you have to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please do so as soon as possible so that your time slot can be refilled.

Most people think the best time to have their chimney checked and cleaned is in the early fall before the burning season. However, the best time is actually right after the burning season in the spring. You can avoid a long waiting period by calling before the fall rush. Also, if the inspection reveals a problem with your chimney, it can be repaired during the off season when we have more time to do it. By having your chimney cleaned and repaired in the spring and summer, your fireplace will be ready for you to use when the first cool spell comes in the fall.

During the hot summer months, humidity and creosote combine to cause an unpleasant sooty odor around your fireplace area, so a spring service call will help to minimize this odor. Other than a sooty odor, our other major complaint from customers is birds nesting in their chimney. During the spring and summer, chimney swifts raise their young in uncapped chimneys. By having us out in the spring, we can make sure your chimney is securely capped and prevent these chimney swifts from entering the flue, becoming a nuisance and a health hazard. However, we do not remove animals, dead or alive, from chimneys. Call an animal removal service or a licensed wildlife expert if animals have made their home in your chimney.

When creosote is in its early stages, it is flaky and sooty and can be removed by using professional chimney brushes as a sweep would do. However, in its tarry, gummy, or hard glazed form, it is very difficult to remove. So it is essential that a chimney be cleaned and inspected regularly to prevent creosote from building up into this flammable, hard glazed form. Another way to minimize creosote build-up is to burn only dry, seasoned wood, preferably hardwoods that have been seasoned at least 6 months to a year. Freshly cut (green) wood has a lot of moisture in it and causes creosote to build up only after a few fires. Find a dry place in which to store your wood. Also, you can minimize the formation of creosote by burning hot fires rather than low-burning, smoldering fires. Low-burning, smoldering fires create incomplete combustion--causing unburned gases from the wood to go up into the chimney, condensing on the cool walls, thereby forming creosote.

Poorly designed chimneys and improperly installed woodstoves also lead to creosote build-up, so make sure to have your chimney inspected and repaired to prevent future problems.

The best and most economical time to buy your wood for winter is early in the spring so that you can get green wood and season it yourself over the spring and summer months. There is usually a considerable price difference between green and dry wood. If you do wait to buy your wood in the fall, make sure it is really dry and seasoned. Signs of seasoned wood are splits on the ends of the logs, relatively light weight, and the sound of two logs struck together (dry wood cracks, green wood thuds).

If you have a choice, the best type of wood to burn in your fireplace or woodstove is hardwoods. Some examples of hardwoods are oak, hickory, dogwood, sugar or hard maple, white ash, black and yellow birch, crabapple, and apple. The reason that hardwoods are a better choice is that they are a denser, heavier wood. Denser woods have a higher heat potential (measured in BTU's). You will get more heat out of your wood for the money with the harder woods. Some examples of the softer woods which have a much lower BTU (heat potential) that you really want to avoid are box elder, cottonwood, red alder, tulip and balsam poplar, douglas fir, aspen, and pine. If you have no other choice but these softwoods, they will burn...you just will have to replenish the fire more often and will use much more of the wood in a given evening than you would the hardwoods.

Woods vary in other ways besides density: ease of splitting, speed of drying, resin content, ash content, aroma, tendency to throw sparks, and coaling qualities. These are the factors that give each kind of wood its characteristics as firewood. If you are lucky enough to come across some dry, seasoned apple wood, purchase it because it has a really nice aroma when it burns. Aspen, cedar, and hemlock throw sparks. Be careful when burning these--burn only when the stove doors are closed or the firescreen is on.

Under no circumstances should fires be built in fireplaces or furnaces vented to chimneys without the benefit of a properly installed flue liner. Unlined chimneys allow heat to move through brick chimney walls very quickly and can cause adjacent wood and insulation to catch fire. In addition, unlined or improperly lined chimneys venting gas or oil burning appliances can allow poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide to leak into the dwelling with possible fatal consequences.

A cracked or damaged liner is a good indication that at one time a chimney fire has occurred in the chimney. You can have a chimney fire and not even be aware that you are having one. During such a fire, the flue tile liners of a masonry chimney often crack, break, or shatter due to the intense heat. Upon post fire inspection, the chimney would certainly be labeled damaged and need to be repaired (relined) before being used again. Even though it may look innocent enough, a cracked liner can open during a subsequent fire, allowing smoke, sparks, and flames to come dangerously close, threatening the wood framing surrounding the chimney. It is essential to have your chimney thoroughly inspected and documented with the Chim-Scan closed circuit video camera by a chimney sweep if you suspect you have had a chimney fire.

Once started, there is little mistaking a chimney fire. The sound is usually often described as a jet airplane taking off--usually an extremely loud, roaring sound. This sound probably is caused by the very high velocity of the flue gases and of the air being sucked into the air inlet of the appliance and through leaks in the lower parts of the system. One can also hear loud popping and cracking noises during a chimney fire. If the fire is in the stovepipe connector, the stovepipe usually glows red hot and may also shake or vibrate. The most spectacular part of the system during a chimney fire is usually the top of the chimney. Very dense and dark smoke is sometimes seen, but even more impressive is the plume of flames and sparks. In chimneys without caps, the plume can be well over ten feet high. The sparks can also consist of substantial chunks of burning creosote falling to the rooftop. If the chimney fire does not spread to the entire dwelling and destroy it, what is left is a charred mess with expanded, puffed up creosote, resembling large black marshmallows.

It is critical to clean and thoroughly inspect for damage (cracks, loose brick, or warped, distorted metal) following a chimney fire. Since creosote expands during a chimney fire, the flue is left partially or totally blocked and cannot properly vent the smoke and gases from the fireplace. It is not unusual to remove from ten to thirty gallons of creosote while cleaning a chimney following a chimney fire.

The first line of defense in combating this sooty odor is a thorough chimney cleaning and inspection by a chimney professional after the last fire of the season. Once the chimney is cleaned, make sure to keep the damper tightly closed all summer. This will prevent your flue from being the major source of "make-up air" needed to replace that drawn out of the house by venting appliances. If you do not have a damper, it is strongly recommended to have one installed. You can have one installed at the top of the chimney which tightly seals the chimney and acts as a chimney cap as well as a damper. The top damper also keeps out the rain, sleet, and snow in turn reducing the odor problem since moisture is the ingredient that releases odors from the creosote inside the chimney.