Ways to Tell You’re Overdue for Chimney Cleaning

June 17th, 2024
chimney-cleaning

As a homeowner, maintaining your chimney is crucial for ensuring the safety and efficiency of your fireplace. Ignoring regular chimney cleaning can lead to various hazards, including chimney fires, carbon monoxide poisoning, and reduced heating efficiency. Here are some key signs that indicate you’re overdue for a chimney cleaning.

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When Will You Need to Have a Chimney Crown Replacement?

June 3rd, 2024
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As a homeowner, maintaining your chimney is crucial to ensuring the safety and longevity of your home. One vital component that often goes overlooked is the chimney crown. We’ve seen firsthand how essential a well-maintained chimney crown is for the overall health of your chimney system. In this blog post, we’ll delve into what a chimney crown is, how it can sustain damage over the years, and how to determine when it’s time for a chimney crown replacement in Minneapolis.

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How Modern Chimney Sweeps Do Their Jobs

April 22nd, 2024
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In the quaint imaginations of many, chimney sweeps conjure up images of soot-covered figures dancing atop rooftops, reminiscent of scenes from classic literature or movies. (A certain Disney film comes to mind.) Yet, the reality of modern chimney sweeping is far removed from these romanticized depictions. As a leading chimney contractor, 2nd Generation Chimneys is here to shed light on the evolution of chimney sweep services and how we do our jobs in the 21st century.

Gone are the days of manual labor and primitive tools. Today’s chimney sweeps are equipped with advanced techniques and state-of-the-art equipment to ensure thorough and efficient cleaning. At 2nd Generation Chimneys, we pride ourselves on staying at the forefront of industry advancements, delivering exceptional service with every sweep.

So, what exactly sets modern chimney sweeps apart from their predecessors? Let’s delve into the methods and tools that define our profession today.

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What’s the Difference Between a Fireplace and a Wood Stove?

March 25th, 2024
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In the realm of home heating and ambiance, the age-old debate between the classic fireplace and the modern wood stove continues to intrigue homeowners seeking warmth and comfort during colder months. In this post, we aim to dissect the difference between the traditional fireplace and choosing a contemporary wood stove installation in Edina, shedding light on their respective advantages and encouraging you to consider the benefits of wood stoves.

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Top Reasons to Have a Fireplace in Your Home

December 18th, 2023
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It’s the holiday season, and that means you’ve probably seen a flood of images of people relaxing in rooms lit with the warm glow of a yuletide blaze in a fireplace. It’s one of the classic images of the winter holidays.

Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “I’d really like that experience here in my home, and turning on a video fireplace from YouTube on the living room television screen just isn’t the same.” 

We’re glad you showed up here, because we’re the experts when it comes to fireplace installation in Minneapolis, MN. We handle installing wood inserts, wood stoves, electric inserts, and electric fireplaces. We know what fireplaces can bring to a home, and here’s our list of the top reasons you should think about getting a fireplace.

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Here Are Risks You Need to Know About Your Chimney

December 4th, 2023
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Using a fireplace in a home is one of the great joys of the winter season, and we’re certain you’re looking forward to spending time with your family around the roaring hearth. But before we get too deep into the fireplace season, we want to talk to you about some of the dangers that might lurk in your chimney.

Chimneys and fireplaces need special attention, and it’s our job to provide our customers with the best in chimney inspections and chimney cleaning in Minneapolis, MN to ensure they can stay safe and cozy each year.

Let’s look at several of the common issues that might make your chimney unsafe and the best ways to deal with them or prevent them.

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What Sets Professional Chimney Sweeps Apart

September 25th, 2023
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If you have a fireplace in your home, you’ll need to have it routinely cleaned. This is an essential job because it helps keep the chimney working both effectively and safely. Allowing too much buildup to develop in a chimney will lead to bad venting and fire hazards.

But when it’s time for chimney cleaning in Bloomington, MN, who do you hire for the job? You have several options, but only one is the correct on:

  1. Get out some drop cloths, put on an old T-shirt, grab a broom and a ladder, and do it yourself.
  2. Find someone offering super-low prices to do the job.
  3. Hire professional chimney sweeps with proper certification.

The correct answer is “C.” We’ll explain why professional chimney sweeps stand apart from DIY and amateurs. Why they are the only people to consider hiring for your regular chimney and fireplace cleaning needs.

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Animals That Can Get in Your Chimney

August 28th, 2023
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Chimney cleaning in Minneapolis, MN is a job we recommend homeowners have scheduled regularly, especially for wood-burning fireplaces that leave behind creosote. But creosote isn’t the only reason you may need to have chimney cleaning: animals often get inside chimneys to nest.

Animals will not only create blockages, they can also be dangerous—and removing them often must be left to expert chimney cleaners. We have a lot of experience with the types of critters that like to set up homes inside Minnesota chimneys. Here are the most common ones that might choose your chimney for a temporary home.

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Can I Do My Own Chimney Cleaning?

August 14th, 2023
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On this site, we emphasize the importance of having regular chimney and chimney flue cleaning in Minneapolis, MN. We recommend a yearly cleaning along with a Level 1 chimney inspection to ensure the chimney is free of buildup of creosote and anything that may block it, and to check for possible damage and wear that needs repairs.

But are professionals like ours really necessary? You might wonder if you can clean the chimney yourself. Maybe you can find an online video tutorial. With a face mask, a set of old clothes, tarps on the ground, a few scrubbers on long handles, and a bit of elbow grease, you should be able to get the job done. Right…?

Although we encourage you to handle some chimney maintenance tasks on your own, the actual job of cleaning a chimney is something to leave to the professionals. We’ll explain why below.

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Common Misunderstandings People Have About Chimney Sweeping

June 5th, 2023
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Most people’s ideas of chimney sweeping come straight from Mary Poppins. That’s definitely a romantic image, and it does reflect something of what this job was like in the Victorian era, when combustion fires were used everywhere and had such efficiency problems that cleaning was an almost continual job.

Chimney sweeping is still necessary today for homes with fireplaces, but unfortunately most people have a limited understanding of the job, how it’s done, why it’s done, and when it needs to be done. 

We’re long-time experts when it comes to chimney sweeping in Minneapolis, MN, and we’d like to go through some of the common misunderstandings people have about this job.

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