Chimney sweeping is much more important during the Winter than it might seem. It’s not just a cosmetic improvement, but a quality of life one – and a crucial one at that.
The thing is lots of fumes can accumulate inside the chimney and slowly but surely prevent it from leading it outside, which makes them stay inside your home and cause a number of problems. Bad smell for starters, but that can lead to intoxication and respiratory problems, especially in family members that are already suffering from them or are prone to having allergic reactions.
But that’s not all.
Let’s go through all the reasons why chimney sweeping is such an important task of maintenance for the Winter!
“A good laugh is sunshine in the house. – William M. Thackeray
It prevents creosote buildup
Let’s get the most complicated (and hazardous) part out of the way first so you understand how important chimney sweeping really is.
Fire hazards are a serious problem for fireplace users and some care must always be taken to prevent it. Turns out a dirty or clogged chimney greatly increases the chance of fire hazards, which can be a danger not only to your family, but to your property.
Burning fire wood creates a substance called creosote that latches on to the inside of your chimney, which as it turns out, is highly flammable. Bad air circulation and the accumulation of fumes and heat from a clogged chimney can lead to it bursting into flames and potentially creating a large chimney fire.
This is usually not an immediate danger because such a reaction won’t happen until it goes too far. Creosote buildup is common and as long as you schedule regular chimney sweeps, the thing layer is easily removed by a professional before it causes any harm.
But let it buildup too much, and not only will removing it be harder, but it becomes the potential fire hazard we’ve been talking about.
It prevents carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide has a very tricky characteristic – it’s invisible and odorless.
The buildup isn’t noticeable until someone starts suffering the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning, which at certain levels, can even be deadly. A clogged chimney can slowly corroborate to this buildup without anyone noticing due to excessive smoke buildup, animal nests, or suboptimal air flow.
It makes it easier to inspect and maintain
Regular chimney sweeping makes inspections considerably easier. Professionals will be able to spot cracks and other problems at a glance, while if no sweeping had been done, it would make it much harder to spot anything and they would probably suggest your first step is to hire a sweeping service.
And chimney sweeping by itself already helps in preventing most problems an inspector would notice. Make it a regular bit of maintenance and you will already be saving yourself a lot of trouble.
It makes the fire more efficient
Having more oxygen reach the firewood makes it burn faster and more effectively, which in turn, makes for more heat. Same goes for gas fireplaces – since they’re “cleaner it can trick homeowners into thinking chimney sweeping doesn’t need to be that frequent, but it absolutely does.
It prevents smoke from accumulating inside your home
For obvious reasons, inhaling smoke is highly damaging to your health. A chimney that is not letting out all the smoke will make it slowly accumulate inside your home, and even worse, if you have good enough air flow, it will simply spread it around the entire house. That is very bad.
The best way to prevent this entirely is, you guessed, regular chimney sweeping. As mentioned before, this already takes care of most clogging issues, but it also facilitates further inspection to make sure no other problems come around.
Need some chimney sweeping right away? Talk to a chimney sweeping professional and get free quotes today!
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