Maintaining the Bird Screens on Your Chimney Cap
If you have ever heard the sounds of chirping coming from your chimney, you know what a pain it can be to have birds living in the flue. Not only can they be noisy, but they can also bring germs and diseases into your home. Even when they leave, you will still have their nesting materials inside your chimney, which can block your flue and force carbon monoxide back into your home. The straw and other debris from birds’ nests also creates a dangerous fire hazard as these materials are extremely flammable. The best way to deal with birds and other wild animals and your chimney is to prevent them from being able to get into your chimney at all. At Santa’s Friend Chimney Service, we sell and install bird screens that we can add to your existing chimney cap to give it even more protection from animal and bird invasions. We would like to tell you a bit more about keeping birds out of your chimney as well as maintaining the screens to work at the highest efficiency level.
WATCH OUT FOR CHIMNEY SWIFTS
You may not know that it can be illegal to have a certain kind of bird removed from your chimney if you have one living inside. According to The Humane Society of the United States, chimney swifts and other migratory birds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Anybody who knowingly destroys these types of birds or nests that could contain eggs or baby birds can be either penalized or fined, or even both. If you do find a family of chimney swifts living in your chimney, you will have to be patient and wait until the spring when they will leave on their own. Santa’s Friend Chimney Service can then check out the inside of your chimney and remove any nesting left behind. We can then add bird screens to your chimney cap to keep these birds from returning in the fall or winter.
KEEP YOUR SCREENS CLEAN
You need to be sure your bird screens are clean and not clogged to keep your chimney working efficiently and safely. Leaves and other debris can get blown into the screens and get stuck. Another thing that can clog up your bird screens is creosote. This substance is a natural residue produced during the combustion process of burning wood, but you can slow down its development by only burning seasoned firewood that has been dried for at least six months. If you burn wet wood, you will definitely have a problem with an abundance of creosote and soot accumulating in your bird screens because wet wood creates a lot of smoke and other byproducts of combustion. You also have cooler fires, which provides the perfect temperature for the rapid development of creosote. If you notice that your bird screens look as if they are clogged with a black or brown substance, give us a call at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service to schedule an appointment for our chimney sweeps to clean your screens. When your screens are clogged, you will have draft problems, like not being able to get a fire started or smoke filling your home when you do get the fire started. You will also be at a higher risk for a carbon monoxide leak because this toxic gas will be forced back into your home if it cannot exit through the screen. We can help you keep everything working smoothly.
Keep birds and other wild animals out of your chimney all year long. Contact us at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service to talk to our staff about our bird screen installation and maintenance services.