by Mark Hudson | Aug 25, 2014 | chimney maintenance
There are a lot of risks involved with having a chimney. Chimney fires, carbon monoxide poisoning, and expensive repairs are some of the more worrisome problems. However, you can protect your home, your health, and your wallet easily with early preventative maintenance. Hudson Chimney can inspect and clean your chimney, make sure it is properly installed, and make and carry out recommendations that will keep your home safe and maintained.
One easy way to prevent chimney fires and ventilation problems is to have your chimney cleaned professionally. The Chimney Safety Institute of America recommends that you have your chimney swept annually. Whenever you use your chimney, a substance called creosote builds up. Creosote is both highly flammable and blocks smoke and gasses from leaving your home. Furthermore, creosote can build up into glazed creosote, which has to be removed by a professional with chemicals to avoid ruining your chimney. The professionals at Hudson Chimney would be more than happy to inspect your chimney for creosote buildup and clean it to provide you with a safer home.
Water that enters your chimney can also cause extensive water damage, including mold growth, insulation damage, and even the destruction of your chimney. In order to prevent water from entering your home through your chimney, you should have Hudson Chimney install a cap or damper (every chimney should have one of the two). A cover will not only prevent water from entering and damaging your home, but it will also prevent animals and other debris from getting inside your chimney. Keeping your chimney clear of animals and debris is important for proper ventilation and keeping toxins out of your home.
Water can also seep through the brick or mortar of your chimney, however. This can also cause water damage to your home as well as cause cracks to form and be enlarged, shortening the life span of your chimney. Therefore, it is important to have Hudson Chimney apply a repellent to your chimney stack. A repellent will prevent water from seeping into the materials of your chimney while still allowing it to breathe, which enables water produced in your chimney to leave it.
You should have Hudson Chimney inspect your chimney to make sure that it is also installed correctly. Sometimes an appliance can have a flue that is too big or too small for it, causing draft problems. With a flue that is too small, ventilation will not occur properly, allowing toxins to enter your home. With a flue that is too big, on the other hand, creosote will quickly build up, causing a fire hazard and also preventing proper drafting.
If you are worried about the potential disasters your chimney can cause, you will find how easy it is for you to protect yourself and your home by calling Hudson Chimney. They will make sure that your chimney is working safely and efficiently and put your mind at ease.
by Mark Hudson | Jun 27, 2014 | chimney maintenance, fireplaces
Can’t bear that unpleasant odor coming from your fireplace? It’s time for an inspection and thorough cleaning. Schedule an appointment today.
If your home has the strong, musty, smoky smell of an old cabin in the woods—but that’s not exactly the effect you were going for—and the origin of the smell seems to be your chimney and/or fireplace or stove, there is hope.
Being the owner of a well-loved and often-used fireplace does not mean you have to live with that overpowering fireplace odor. A trained chimney sweep will be able to suss out the cause of the smell and plot an effective plan for removal.
Why Does My Fireplace Smell?
Even though odors don’t usually vary much from fireplace to fireplace—hence most people know exactly what we mean when we say “that campfire smell”—this smell can actually be caused by a number of factors. The important thing to focus on isn’t why your chimney smells smoky; it smells smoky because it has likely accumulated soot and creosote from the fires you burn. Instead, you should focus on why this smoky odor is being dragged into your house. Ordinarily there is a problem with proper venting or with air pressure—both issues that can easily be addressed.
If you live in or around the Jacksonville, Florida, area—where we have worked for more than 30 years—one of Hudson Chimney’s certified chimney technicians will be able to determine the origin of your chimney’s odor. In the meantime, here are a few possible culprits:
- Dead animals or animal infestations are in your chimney; once the animals are removed, this problem can be easily remedied by adding a chimney cap or top-sealing damper to prevent animals from entering in the future.
- A clothes dryer, bathroom vent fan, or another appliance is exhausting air outside your home, and as a result negative air pressure is drawing outside air into your home through your chimney.
- If you have two or more chimneys, they may be competing for air pressure. This is known as “smoke crossover,” and occurs when a fire is exhausting from one chimney, causing the other chimney to draw in air and drag smoke in along with it.
How Do I Deodorize My Chimney?
If it’s been a long while since your chimney was professionally inspected and cleaned, those of us at Hudson Chimney will probably recommend that you start there. It’s kind of like having a physical if you haven’t been to the doctor in a long while. A thorough chimney and fireplace cleaning and sweeping will see to it that excess creosote and combustion byproducts—all of which are strong-smelling—are removed along with any animal nests or blockages.
If there is a backdrafting issue, no thanks to the recent addition of a range hood or energy efficient-windows, for example, your chimney technician will be able to recommend ways to allow your house to “breathe.” Beyond that, there are many proven methods for deodorizing and preventing chimney odors.
Have questions about chimney odors? Call Hudson Chimney today.
