Three Ways Negligence Ruins Your Chimney
There are reasons why the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) recommends you have your chimney professionally swept and inspected every year, and three reasons that neglect can ruin your chimney concern you and your family’s health and personal safety. Although it sounds a bit morbid to say, “You could die if you do not have your fireplace and chimney professionally cleaned and inspected every year,” but chimney negligence can cause chimney fires, mold growth, and carbon dioxide poisoning, along with expensive damage repairs. A chimney sweeping and inspecting by a CSIA-certified company like Mason’s Chimney Service will prevent all of those disasters from occurring. We at Mason’s Chimney Service would like to share what causes those three events to happen and how having your chimney swept annually will keep them from taking place in your home.
Homeowners have to prioritize repairs, as owning a home means a near-constant stream of to-do’s. Don’t neglect your chimney.
- Creosote buildup can cause chimney fires. A naturally-occurring residue, creosote and occurs when smoke, gases, tar fog, and other by-products of combustion exit the cooler upper walls of your chimney during the condensation process. Varying in appearance and color, creosote sticks to the walls of your chimney as a black or brown substance that can be shiny and hard, sticky and drippy, or flaky and crusted. The danger of creosote building up in your chimney? Highly combustible, according to the CSIA, a large buildup of creosote can easily ignite and start a chimney fire if the internal flue reaches a high enough temperature. The certified and trained chimney sweepers at Mason’s Chimney Service have years of experience of removing creosote buildup from chimney walls. You can trust us to keep your chimney safe from a fire by scheduling an appointment today for a chimney sweeping from us.
- Chimney leaks can lead to water penetration. And water penetration can lead to dangerous mold growing in your chimney as well as a lot of money in mortar repairs, due to the erosion of the mortar joints holding together the bricks of your chimney. If you ever notice a moldy smell in your home, do not forget to check your fireplace as the source of the odor, and if it is, contact Mason’s Chimney Service as soon as possible to have the chimney mold removed. Also, look for loose bricks on the exterior of your chimney as that is an early sign of water penetration. Our masons at Mason’s will repair that damage as well as waterproof your chimney to best protect it from water leaking into your chimney.
- A cracked flue liner can be a source of carbon monoxide to enter your home. When your flue liner is cracked, damaged, or not even present, gases such as carbon monoxide created by combustion have an opening into your house. The CSIA strongly recommend that every chimney should have a flue liner of some sort to prevent dangers from occurring. Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of those dangers as it can cause death. A chimney inspection from a CSIA-certified company such as Mason’s Chimney Service will spot a cracked or damaged flue liner, and we can also repair a damaged liner as well as install a new liner, preventing you from the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and other problems.
We hope we have convinced you to contact us here at Mason’s Chimney Service to schedule a chimney sweep, if you have not already done so this year. Our CSIA-certified chimney sweeps are ready to prevent any chimney damages and the serious problems they can cause.