'Tis The Season For A Chimney Cleaning

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A lovely, gentle chardonnay, a Lou Rawls tune setting the tone, and a crackling fire burning in the hearth, what could be a better recipe for an evening of romance? But as the room begins to fill with smoke, the plans for the evening may have to take a sudden twist.

Along with the purchase of a new home comes new responsibilities that might not have been anticipated, and one of those that are ignored at the homeowners peril is chimney maintenance. A poorly cared for chimney can lead to issues that merely inconvenience all the way up to genuinely threatening the occupants of the home.

So what to do? Call a chimney sweep. These modern day professionals are most likely not going to be as entertaining as Dick Van Dyke, but they will keep you a great deal safer. Chimney sweeps are highly trained to identify and remedy the risks inherent in a system designed to control open fires and their residue in what are usually primarily wooden structures. Enlist their help.

The risks are real. Excessive build up of creosote in the chimney stack can ignite and cause an uncontrolled hazard. An ineffective flu can cause smoke to back up into the home and be noxious and render the fireplace unusable. Water can enter the home through the chimney and cause damage to the home. Cracks in the stack liner can cause discoloration of the exterior of the chimney and allow smoke and odor to enter the home. All of this is preventable with a proper maintenance regimen.

The first order of business is to schedule an annual inspection, as recommended by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). This needs to be made a habit, and perhaps can be scheduled for Halloween, along with the replacement of your smoke-detector battery. This timing is actually pretty good, as you can go into the wood burning season with confidence that your system is prepared for the winter evenings to come. In a cold climate such as they have in Chicago, you may have to call your chimney sweep expert earlier, as they are in heavy demand at this time of year.

The second thing that needs to be addressed is the regular cleaning, or sweeping of the chimney. This is what gives chimney sweeps their name. This is an invasive operation that will remove the build up of creosote in your system and help it to draw smoke out of your home more efficiently. The professional sweep will do this from inside your home, primarily, but will take extreme care to maintain the cleanliness of your living space.

How often you should have this done depends on who you ask. To be safe, a cleaning after a cord of wood has been consumed will be sufficient to maintain the system well. Your annual inspection will reveal what your needs are, as the professional sweep is looking for all kinds of shortcomings that may be revealed in your system. Chim-chim-charoo!

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Nick Messe is president of Lead Frog LLC. Early Times Chimney Sweeps has steadily grown into the largest chimney company of its type in the United States. They provide a full spectrum of chimney services, including Chicago gutter replacement, Chicago chimney cleaning, Chicago chimney repair, DuPage County gutter replacement, DuPage County chimney cleaning and DuPage County chimney repair.

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