Essential Chimney Maintenance Tips: Safety, Cleaning, and Repairs

If you use your home fireplace, chimney cleaning and maintenance is a matter of home safety. The buildup of soot and creosote can pose a fire hazard and impair your chimney’s efficacy at funneling smoke and gases outside your home. Let’s review exactly what proper home chimney maintenance entails.

Why Chimney Maintenance Matters for Home Safety

Failing to keep up with adequate chimney maintenance has several safety and health implications. The risk of an accident or structural problem increases the longer you go without cleaning your chimney.

• Fire Hazards

When a fire burns in a fireplace, not all byproducts of combustion escape through the chimney. Creosote, a sticky tar-like substance, accumulates on surfaces inside the chimney. Creosote is highly flammable, and when enough builds up on the chimney walls, it can ignite while the fireplace is in use.

A chimney fire might go undetected. In fact, most do. But even a fire contained to the chimney can weaken the surrounding structure. If the creosote accumulation is severe, or if the chimney is damaged, a chimney fire can threaten the entire home.

Protect your home by having your chimney cleaned every year, and keep a home fire safety plan to help you and your family act quickly in an emergency.

• Carbon Monoxide

Inadequate maintenance can also impair your chimney’s ability to vent smoke and harmful gases. If enough soot, creosote, or loose bricks and debris obstruct the chimney, carbon monoxide gas can build up inside your home while a fire burns in the fireplace.

Carbon monoxide, a colorless and odorless gas, is released when a fuel source burns. Carbon monoxide poisoning from home fireplaces and malfunctioning heating systems accounts for hundreds of deaths in the United States every year. 

In addition to keeping your chimney in good condition, be sure that you have functional carbon monoxide detectors installed throughout the house.

• Poor Air Quality

Venting issues can also worsen your indoor air quality. Instead of escaping through the chimney, smoke and particulate matter build up in the home. This can lead to eye, nose, and throat irritation, coughing, and respiratory trouble.  

• Structural Problems

Chimney maintenance also involves structural inspections. Chimney fires, age, and exposure to the elements can result in cracking and crumbling, loose bricks, and surrounding roof damage. Left unchecked, these problems can progress into broader structural problems, water leaks, water damage, and mold.

How Often Should You Inspect and Clean Your Chimney?

Home experts recommend having your chimney professionally inspected once per year, even if you don’t use your fireplace very often. 

The recommended frequency of chimney cleaning is somewhat dependent on how often you burn wood and what kind of wood you burn. Typically, you want to have your chimney cleaned when the accumulation of creosote on interior surfaces is around ⅛ of an inch thick. For the average homeowner, this translates to about once per year. If you burn fires several times per week, however, consider two cleanings per season.

Also bear in mind that unseasoned wood yields a greater amount of creosote. If you’re not burning seasoned wood in your fireplace, you may want to schedule more frequent cleanings.

Timing is another consideration. It’s best practice to have your chimney cleaned at the beginning of the season, before you start to use it regularly. This makes chimney cleaning a good candidate for your pre-holiday home maintenance checklist.

DIY Chimney Upkeep vs. Professional Maintenance

The average homeowner can manage some light chimney and fireplace care, but it’s important to know when to call a professional. Removing debris, clearing the firebox of ash, and cleaning some light creosote buildup can be DIY activities, but structural repairs and heavy creosote deposits usually demand certified chimney maintenance technicians. The pros have the specialized tools, equipment, and experience to remove creosote safely and effectively.

Essential Seasonal Chimney Care Tips

There are several tasks you can personally take on to keep your chimney in good shape. Consider the chimney maintenance tips below, and fold some tasks into your general roof maintenance routine. Remember to always exercise caution and use the appropriate safety gear when working on your home’s roof.

• Inspect the chimney’s exterior for cracks, crumbling brick or mortar, and loose bricks.
• Check for loose shingles or other signs of damage where the chimney meets the roof.
• Remove any debris or obstructions, such as leaves, branches and twigs, and birds’ nests.
• If you have a chimney damper, ensure that it opens and closes smoothly.
• Check that your chimney cap is secure.
• Remove and properly dispose of ash from the firebox.
• Wipe down fireplace doors and screens.
• Check for cracks in the firebox.
• Consider using a cleaning log or powder to break down the creosote and make cleaning easier. 

When to Schedule Certified Chimney Maintenance Services

Most homeowners will want to work with a professional service to remove creosote buildup. While it’s possible to remove light accumulation yourself, it’s a messy job that requires specialized tools. Creosote can also be harmful if you’re not working with the appropriate PPE. If the creosote is greater than ⅛ of an inch thick, you should virtually always defer to the pros.

Another benefit of a professional cleaning is that a seasoned professional can inspect your chimney at the same time, alerting you to any concerning problems that might have otherwise escaped your notice.

It’s also time to reach out to certified professionals for any structural repairs, such as repairing cracks or replacing bricks or liners.

Chimney and Roof Protection

It’s hard to overstate the benefits of preventive home maintenance, but challenges and malfunctions will crop up no matter how careful you are. You can hedge that risk by investing in warranty protection that will offset the cost of home repairs and services. Tailor a plan to suit your home by working with the Liberty Home Guard team. Call (833)-545-3434.