There are few things as comforting on a cold night as a crackling fire in your living room. No matter how much or how little you use your fireplace it is important to have your chimney cleaned annually. When it comes to cleaning your chimney the only way to ensure that it is safe and structurally sound is to call a Minneapolis chimney cleaning professional. Anyone can sweep the soot out of a chimney, but a professional chimney sweep provides much more service than that. Here is some information about the professional chimney cleaning process.
A professional chimney sweep starts by cleaning and inspecting the fireplace, moving upwards to the flu and chimney. The chimney sweep also inspects the chimney flashing and crown. The chimney flashing is the seal between the joints of your building and the chimney and the crown sits on top of the chimney, protecting the masonry from water and weather damage.
Once the fireplace is cleaned the damper is removed. This is the part of chimney is seals the opening when the fireplace is not in use. Its removal allows for brush access to the smoke shelf and chamber. The smoke chamber functions to reduce backdraft when smoke enters the flue, and the smoke shelf catches falling debris and rain water. It is vital that these areas be clean and unobstructed.
Once the area is cleared it is time to begin the actual sweeping of the chimney. Most professionals will skip the handheld brush for one mounted on a heavy duty drill. This allows for a much more thorough scraping and cleaning of the built up creosote than simply feeding a brush through by hand. Once the brushing is done the crew will vacuum up the mess, being sure to clear the smoke shelf of all debris.
Once the cleaning has been completed, your professional chimney sweep may feed video equipment through the damper opening. This will allow them to inspect the condition and integrity of the chimney flue and mortar joints. Most serious issues with chimneys are discovered during routine chimney sweeping. Video inspection allows for detection of water damage, missing or degraded mortar joints, black stains indicating smoke leakage and a slew of other possible issues.
Once a year, every year, have a Minneapolis chimney professional clean your chimney. If you have any questions regarding this information, the pros at 2nd Generation Chimneys are willing, able and happy to provide answers.