Santa's Friend Chimney Service

Santa's Friend Chimney Service Blog

Avoiding A Chimney Fire This Winter

Most people try to avoid going to the dentist – even if you don’t have any cavities, it just isn’t that much fun, either. Does anyone try to get in a car accident? Of course not – that’s something to be avoided at all costs. Something else that you want to avoid at all costs? A chimney fire! Of course, this is nothing that anyone wants to happen – and there are definitely things that you can do which will help you avoid this type of devastating occurrence.

Causes of Chimney Fires

The biggest cause of a chimney fire is creosote build up. Creosote is the sticky or shiny, black or brown, nasty substance that builds up on the inside of your chimney – especially near the top. It’s formed when the chemical particles and water vapors that are released as smoke hit the cooler surface of the chimney and condense onto the bricks and mortar. This substance is incredibly flammable, and that means that any spark that flies up could cause a chimney fire.

Another thing that can cause a chimney fire is having something in your chimney that doesn’t belong there – anything from trash and dried leaves and twigs to a dried bird’s nest or animal’s nest. Your chimney is an ideal place for an animal to start a family – dark, warm, out of the way of wind or predators. Unfortunately, dried nests or garbage in your chimney can easily catch a spark or ember and cause a chimney fire.

Both of these problems are easily solved. All it takes is a good inspection and cleaning by a CSIA certified chimney sweep found at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service. They know how much creosote is too much, and also how to remove any obstruction that could be a fire starter.

Tips to Prevent Chimney Fire

Although calling in the experts from Santa’s Friend is the first step in preventing chimney fires, there are some things you can do on your own that will help, as well. One big step? Pick the right firewood! Make sure that the firewood you pick is dry. This will make it burn hotter, which helps prevent creosote build up. Another wood tip? Make sure you burn the hardest wood possible, as this also will burn hotter and help keep the creosote levels down. Anything you can do to keep the fires burning hot prevents the build-up of this highly flammable substance.

Prevention is the Best Solution

It is always better to avoid a difficult situation rather than deal with it after it happens. Avoiding a chimney fire is a way better solution than rebuilding your chimney or cleaning up after the fact. The best way to avoid a chimney fire? Call Santa’s Friend Chimney Service today and schedule your annual inspection and cleaning. They’ll make avoiding a chimney fire an easy thing to do!

By Justin Perkins on September 22nd, 2017 | Tagged with: Tags: , , | Leave a Comment

Fixing Your Leaky Chimney

We all know that your car tires can leak, right? If your umbrella leaks, you’ll know it really quickly by your wet head. Another trouble area is your chimney. Unfortunately, even though this structure is built to last, over time it can develop areas that cause leaks. This may end up as structural damage and big repair bills. It’s time to be proactive: give Santa’s Friend Chimney Service a call today and you’ll soon have a leak-free chimney!

Just like with a leaky tire or a leaky umbrella, there are signs that your chimney has a leak. Look around your fireplace: if you see peeling and stained wallpaper or a water stained ceiling, it could be that your chimney has a leak. Not only does this look unsightly in your home, but it also signals that there is damage that needs to be repaired. It’s important to catch the cause of the leak and to fix it early. In addition, along with any damage that has occurred, before it leads to bigger problems later on!

Leaks in your chimney cause more than just cosmetic damage to your home. Your chimney can actually have structural damage! Leak damage can include: deteriorating firebox assembly, rotting wood in your home, rotting wall coverings, rusted dampers, and even structural instability of the chimney itself. Of course, the worst of these is structural damage. This is because the chimney is such an important part of your fireplace structure. The chimney is where the byproducts of your fire are directed and released into the atmosphere, instead of into your home. Unfortunately, if there is structural damage, you could have an improper release of fumes. Consequently, this could lead to a build-up of carbon monoxide inside your home.

What is Carbon Monoxide?

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can be released when the wood you burn isn’t burned completely. The reason that carbon monoxide is so harmful? It displaces the oxygen in your blood; in fact, your body will reject oxygen and take in the carbon monoxide instead. When this happens, your heart, brain, and other organs are being deprived of the oxygen they need to keep you living!

Stay Safe!

It’s easy to see the damage that could occur if you leave chimney leaks that aren’t repaired. Not only can you have damage that looks bad, but some of the damage could put your family at risk. Let the experts at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service inspect and clean your chimney. They’ll be able to detect and repair any damage that leaks have caused. Not to mention, your chimney will be cleaned as well! Don’t put your family at risk when a solution is just a phone call away!

By Justin Perkins on September 6th, 2017 | Tagged with: Tags: , , | Leave a Comment

We Repair Old Chimneys

A stately chimney can add to the beauty and grace of an elegant, older home. It brings to mind dinner parties, or quiet family evenings watching the patterns in the flames of a crackling fire. Unfortunately, even these durable old chimneys can suffer from the effect of precipitation and use. Consequently, if not kept in a state of good repair, have the potential to lead to a dangerous situation. Not to mention, being an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful home! Luckily, help is just a phone call away. Santa’s Friend Chimney Service doesn’t just inspect and clean chimneys, they also offer a wide range of chimney repairs and rebuilds.

Repair Work

It’s a well-known fact that you should have your chimney inspected and cleaned on an annual basis. However, has it been a few years since you’ve had an inspection? If so, there are some things that you can see for yourself might indicate repairs are needed:

  • Spalling – as water (in the form of precipitation) hits the bricks that make up your fireplace. Over time, it can enter the bricks and cause the brick to flake or peel, reducing the strength of the bricks and compromising the structure of your chimney.
  • Crumbling Mortar – if you take a look at your chimney, you may notice that the mortar is loose and crumbly. This is another condition that can compromise the integrity of your chimney. Have you noticed lots of loose, crumbly mortar? You may be looking at a procedure called tuckpointing. This is in when your chimney specialist uses special tools to remove the old mortar and replace it with new mortar. It will matche your old mortar, leaving your chimney structurally secure and looking like new.
  • Chimney Fire – believe it or not, you may have had a chimney fire over the course of the winter and not even realized it! When most of us think of a chimney fire, we think of a roaring blaze that could easily overtake the rest of the home; this is not always the case. Most chimney fires don’t have enough fuel or enough air to make them all that noticeable. Nonetheless, damage will occur to the interior of your chimney. Sometimes this damage can only be detected by inspection by a qualified professional. If the damage is left undetected and untreated, you could be in for major, expensive repair work in a few years!

Expert Repair Professionals

Have you kept up with having your chimney inspected and cleaned on an annual basis? If so, chances are any of these problems were caught before they became too worrisome. If you haven’t, then you might be looking at major repairs. You’ll want to get these taken care of as soon as possible, so that you’ll be able to enjoy your fireplace when the cooler days of winter hit. Make sure you call the CSIA certified specialists from Santa’s Friend Chimney Service so that you can use your fireplace safely this winter!

By Justin Perkins on August 22nd, 2017 | Tagged with: Tags: , , , | Leave a Comment

Getting A Jump-Start On Your Fall Chimney Inspection

Summer is drawing to an end. State fairs are starting and last minute summer vacations are being taken. Kids are asking about buying school supplies and new clothes to start the school year off right. You’re probably starting to think about getting your house cleaned and ready for the winter months. Even if you aren’t, there’s one part of your house that definitely needs to be inspected before fall and winter move in, and that’s your chimney! Now is the time to call to book your annual inspection and cleaning and beat the fall rush.

Inspection

When a chimney inspector comes to look at your chimney, they are looking for several things. He’ll be looking for obstructions. This includes any type of damage that might have occurred over the past year of use. He will also look for creosote build up. If you’ve had some type of trauma to your home, such as some type of traumatic weather system, your chimney specialist might ask to look at your roof or your attic. This is in order to see if there’s any structural damage that will need to be repaired. If a really catastrophic event such as a chimney fire has occurred, then your inspector will need to take a deeper look into your chimney. It may even turn into a tear down/rebuild job!

Reasons for Inspection and Cleaning

There are several things that can happen to your chimney that cause the need for it to be cleaned. First, it’s pretty obvious that your chimney gets dirty during use. In addition, when you build a lot of fires over the winter months, that build up just gets thicker and thicker. What is building up is creosote! This is a mixture of the gases, water vapors, and other chemicals that are released in smoke.

When the smoke hits the higher, cooler part of the chimney, it condenses onto the sides of the chimney and forms a black, sticky (or possibly brown and shiny) substance that is called creosote. The thing is, this substance is highly flammable. Unfortunately, if it’s left on the there year after year, the likelihood of a chimney fire will continue to increase dramatically! CSIA certified sweeps, like those at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service, know what to look for. Also, they have the tools to remove the creosote from your chimney.

Another thing that your chimney professional will be looking for is obstructions. If you have a mild winter and don’t use your chimney much, you might think that you don’t need to worry about creosote build up. Well, there are other things that can cause some chimney trouble. Animals and birds are drawn to your chimney as a great place to build a nest. When the critters leave, the nest remains. That nest is also a fire hazard! This is another thing that Santa’s Friend knows how to remove – nests and other debris that may be obstructing the chimney.

Professional Cleaning

Call Santa’s Friend Chimney Service today to get ahead of the fall rush. When you do this, you’ll have one less thing to worry about as the busy fall season approaches!

By Justin Perkins on August 8th, 2017 | Tagged with: Tags: , , | Leave a Comment

The Dangers Of Creosote

Think about your fireplace. Your mind probably goes to thoughts of cozy family get-togethers, gathered around a crackling fireplace. Who can resist the smell and sounds of a great wood fire? However, one word that no fireplace owner likes to think about is creosote! Although you may not like to spend a lot of time thinking about this unpleasant substance, it is something that needs to be taken care of. Fortunately, there are great companies like Santa’s Friend Chimney Service  that can take care of your creosote problems.

Creosote Buildup

Do you know what the smoke that rises from your fire is made up of? Included in that smoke is water vapor, benzene, carbon monoxide, acetic acid, formic acid, sulfur dioxide. Have you heard enough? The good news is that most of that smoke is guided right out of your chimney and into the outside air. The bad news is that some of it doesn’t! Smoke from your fire can climb and reach the relatively cooler surface near the top of your chimney. This causes it to condense and form a layer of what is known as creosote.

The more often you burn a fire in your fireplace, the thicker the layer of creosote will build. Creosote can appear as a black, oily substance or a hard, brown substance. It doesn’t really matter what it looks like. The big issue with creosote is that it is extremely flammable. Creosote can become too thick and catch a spark from your fireplace. Consequently, you might be faced with just what you don’t want – a roaring chimney fire!

One More Thing…

Another issue that creosote can cause is odor build up. You might notice this more often in the damp spring and summertime. The warm, damp air that works its way down your chimney mixes with the creosote on the interior of your chimney. This creates an odor that is, to say the least, unpleasant! You can use some do-it-yourself ideas to try to get rid of the odor. Unfortunately, though, many times these are just temporary fixes at best. Although this isn’t as devastating a problem as the flammability factor, you still want to get rid of this problem.

Problem Solved!

The best approach to getting rid of this dangerous and smelly problem is to hire professionals to come in and clean your chimney for you. Although you could probably get to some of the creosote on your own and scrub it off the interior of your chimney, to have a thorough job of getting rid of the problem, special brushes are used. If a severe creosote problem exists, video inspection can be used to find the root of the problem. Santa’s Friend Chimney Service uses all the latest tools and procedures to make sure your creosote problem is cleaned up! Schedule your annual inspection and cleaning today so you’re ready for the start of fireplace season.

By Justin Perkins on July 21st, 2017 | Tagged with: Tags: , , , | Leave a Comment

Why You Should Have Your Chimney Relined

Why do people line things? Usually it’s to add a layer of protection or reinforcement to the item you’re lining. For example, adding an underskirt to a dress or shirt to give it more body and sturdiness. Linings can also protect what you’re trying to install. If you’re doing some landscaping, you can put a lining down over the ground so that weeds don’t grow among the new landscaping. However, did you know that your chimney has a liner? This is a very important piece of the makeup of a chimney. Not to mention, one that often gets taken for granted!

Chimney Liner

A chimney’s purpose is to direct the smoke up and out of your house. The problem is that the uneven, rough texture of your brick and mortar chimney can actually catch the small particles that are in the smoke. This causes a buildup of creosote. It can easily eat away at the mortar of the chimney, which in turn will impact the stability of your chimney’s structure. The way to protect this is to have a chimney liner installed. If your house was built within the last eighty years, it will already have a chimney liner installed. Do you have an older home built before the 1940’s? If so, it’s very possible that your chimney was built without a liner. If you own an older home, it’s important to know whether there is a chimney liner present, and, if not, to have one installed.

Correctly Sized

If you know that your chimney is lined, another concern might be that it isn’t correctly sized. When your chimney liner was installed, it should have been sized accurately. This is to provide an efficient path for your wood burning appliance to work correctly. If it wasn’t, you may be facing the possibility of excessive creosote buildup or excessive production of carbon monoxide. Both of these can create hazardous situations!

Cracks in the Clay Lining

Many times, clay liner tiles have been used as chimney lining materials. This is great! Why? These tiles can withstand the heat from your fires. Having said that, however, they can also become cracked over time. Other materials can also be used, such as stainless steel or other types of metals. Stainless steel is the most often recommended; because of the durability of this material, stainless steel chimney liners often come with a lifetime guarantee!

Have Your Chimney Relined

Does your chimney not have a liner? Are the clay liner tiles have cracked? Was your liner sized incorrectly in the first place? If you said yes to any of these questions, you will want to have your chimney relined. The best way to determine the condition of your chimney liner? Have your chimney inspected by the CSIA certified technicians at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service! Once they’ve given your chimney a thorough inspection, they’ll be able to suggest the best method and materials for relining your chimney. They’ll offer convenient, friendly service and are dedicated to looking out for the safety of their customers.

By Justin Perkins on July 7th, 2017 | Tagged with: Tags: , , , | Leave a Comment