When it’s time for annual fireplace maintenance, chimney sweep or do it yourself?

Regular maintenance and cleaning of your fireplace takes a little time but it will pay off in the long run allowing your fireplace to run at it’s maximum efficiency safely. First things first, an annual inspection of your fireplace/chimney is recommended by all local municipalities no matter where you live. Even if you have taken good care of your fireplace, animals can build nests, leaves can fall inside the chimney, vapors could accumulate and things you cannot see can also happen causing a possibly bad situation, maybe even hazardous.

Check out the Chimney Institute of America, it is a non-profit educational organization existing to provide chimney and venting safety resources to you, the homeowner. 

“The primary job of a chimney service professional is to aid in the prevention of fires related to fireplaces, wood stoves, gas, oil and coal heating systems and the chimneys that serve them. Chimney sweeps install, clean and maintain these systems, evaluate their performance, prescribe changes to improve their performance, and educate the consumer about their safe and efficient operation.”

When cleaning your wood burning fireplace, avoid chemicals and abrasive cleaners. For the glass, handles, and exterior surface, a soft damp cloth will work perfectly. “If you notice streaks or dirty glass, you can use a standard window cleaner such as Windex. Using a soft cloth, simply clean the glass while it is cool.”  

If you decide to clean your chimney yourself, the first task is to clean the creosote, the source of most chimney fires, out of the chimney. Running the proper-sized chimney brush up and down from the top of the chimney is the best method. First, seal off the fireplace opening in the room. 

Moisture is the main culprit in masonry chimney failures. Brick, concrete and mortar seem hard, but they are permeable to water. While you are up on the roof cleaning out the creosote, inspect the cement chimney crown. Brush away any loose pieces. If it is still basically intact and just has some cracks and pits, coat it with a elastomer crown repair material. You can select a brush- or trowel-on material. It stays flexible and seals better than mortar. 

A deteriorated/loose flashing can be another way for water to enter the chimney. Installing new flashing is best, but most homeowners find it much easier to use a flexible flashing repair compound. It is brushed on over the flashing. Next, inspect the mortar joints. Remove any loose mortar and fill it with mortar or a concrete-colored elastomer sealant. Finally, seal the entire chimney exterior with a water repellent. Be sure to select one which allows the masonry to breathe so moisture does not get trapped. 

There's no “one-size-fits-all” rule for how often to clean your chimney or what to use when you do it. It is always best to contact your local fire inspectors office and ask what they recommend before deciding on anything where your families safety is concerned.  

(information obtained for this article are merely recommendations by homeowners, not something that should be attempted without careful consideration.) 

2-in-10: A Rule for Chimneys (and Big Brothers)

Chimney Code De-coded

Nothing says you can't add onto your home near the fireplace, bringing the exterior chimney brick inside. My oldest brother Kyle recently did just that when he walled-in his patio as a TV room, and I must say, it looks fantastic. A little bit of runaway ivy had to be peeled back from the brick chimney facade and clipped off, and he had to repair a few spots where the tenacious vines had attached to the mortar, crumbling it like a stale cookie, but with a few hours of labor and a little fireplace paint, Kyle made the backside of his chimney look like any other interior brick wall. Well, he had a little help from his kid brother, but we won't go there today...

All things considered, Kyle's addition was a pretty simple construction project, once we took into account certain fireplace and chimney construction principles. Specifically, I'm talking about the 2-in-10 rule, which dictates how high your chimney flue needs to extend in relation to other structures. Kyle wanted a super-high ceiling in his new room, until I told him what a bad idea that was. He was reluctant to listen at first, but once I threw him in a headlock, wrestled the blueprints out of his fist and explained a few basic rules of physics he finally bowed to my expertize.

The 2-in10 rule simply cannot be ignored.

In fact, I've been thinking about this basic tenant of home construction since I read this article this morning in the Seattle Times, which I thought I'd pass it along to those of you considering adding on to your house, or to anyone having mysterious fireplace draft problems, especially if you've recently done any construction in the vicinity of your chimney. It's fireplace 101, obviously, but it never hurts to have a little refresher course. In the end, it can save you not only a big headache but a lot of money.

As home inspector and columnist Dwight Barnett rightly points out, drafty fireplaces can often be traced back to flue height. More specifically, a fireplace draft frequently results from the height of the flue relative to other structures abutting, adjacent to or even in the vicinity of the chimney. To summarize, the chimney needs to rise at least 3 feet above the connecting roof, and at least 2 feet above any other structure within a 10-foot radius. If your chimney doesn't adhere to these basic rules, you're going to get drafts, resulting most often in smoke coming into the living area.

If you've already added onto your house in the vicinity of your chimney and have since been experiencing draft problems when you burn your fireplace, you need to measure. And if you discover you don't meet the rules spelled out above, you either need to extend your flue or extend the entire chimney. Meanwhile, if you're still just thinking about a home addition, you need to consider the 2-in-10 rule before you draw up your plans.

Alternately, if your kid brother happens to be a fireplace enthusiast who spent over thirty years in the fireplace industry, you could also just call him....right, Kyle?