What Happens During a Level 3 Chimney Inspection?

October 27th, 2014

Your fireplace adds warmth and décor to your home and is a wonderful source of heat that keeps you feeling cozy and content. But without proper maintenance, any type of heating system—boilers, furnaces, and fireplaces alike—becomes a safety hazard. It’s important to schedule chimney inspection every year to ensure your fireplace has proper ventilation and that there are no serious problems that need to be addressed. The National Fire Association and the Chimney Institute of America have established three levels of inspection which all inspectors now use. Level 1 is the most basic type of inspection while Level 3 is used only in rare instances. We’ll go over all of the levels in this guide.

Chimney inspection and chimney cleaning are jobs for professional technicians who know what specific types of problems to look out for. At 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., we’ve been in the business for two generations, so we know the proper way to perform a chimney inspection in White Bear Lake.

Level 1 and 2 Inspections

Level 1 and Level 2 inspections are the most common types that homeowners schedule. A Level 1 chimney inspection is part of your yearly chimney cleaning service. If your contractor does not inspect your chimney along with cleaning service, you should hire a new contractor. This is a routine inspection, during which an inspector checks all of the exposed portions of the chimney to make sure construction is stable.

You will need a Level 2 inspection whenever you make a change to your fireplace. You may, for example, switch to a different fuel source or decide to reline a chimney flue. A technician will need to access your roof and crawlspace, and may require video cameras for inspection.

Level 3 Inspections

Level 3 inspections are only performed when you or your inspector suspect a problem. For this type of inspection, the inspector may need to remove some components of your chimney, such as the chimney crown or parts of the interior chimney wall. In this case, technicians should limit removal only to areas where a problem may be present.

Trust the safety of your home to the trained and certified experts at 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. for chimney inspection in White Bear Lake. Call Us Today! 612.922.9600 or 1-888-PIXLEYS

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Can I Do Annual Chimney Sweeping on My Own?

October 20th, 2014

There are certain tasks around your home that are good for doing yourself; there are others that are better left to professionals. One task that is better left to a professional is chimney sweeping. It is recommended that your chimney is swept every fall to ensure safe and efficient use during the winter months. Creosote builds up fairly quickly, especially if you use your fireplace often, and chimney sweeping in the Twin Cities helps keep your chimney functioning as it should. There are several reasons why it’s important to hire a trained professional to sweep your chimney, as we’ll discuss below. If you are ready to start using your fireplace again, contact 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., and schedule a chimney sweep today.

Reasons to Hire a Professional for Chimney Sweeping

Here are a few reasons why it’s important to hire a professional for chimney sweeping instead of doing it yourself:

  • Safety – one of the main reasons it’s important to sweep your chimney is to remove the creosote, soot and ash that can build up therein. These materials are flammable, and if not properly removed, can catch on fire.
  • Specialized tools – there are a number of specialized tools a trained chimney sweeper will bring to the job that you probably don’t have, including chimney brushes and rods, chemical soot and ash removers, cleaning tools and specialized chimney cleaning systems.
  • Protection of home goods – your professional chimney sweep will cover the floor and all home goods in close proximity to your chimney to ensure that everything stays clean.

Benefits of a Professional Chimney Sweep

As we mentioned above, having your chimney swept is very important to you and your home’s safety. Here are some other reasons why you’ll want to get your chimney swept before winter:

  • Energy efficiency – not only is the build-up of creosote, soot and ash dangerous, it can also restrict the air flow in your chimney, which can decrease the efficiency of your fireplace.
  • Longevity – the materials that can build-up in your chimney are highly acidic; as such, they can eat away at the masonry of your chimney, which will wear it down and eventually cause it to crack and break.
  • Bad for your flue – if you have a combustion heating system that requires a flue, a build-up of creosote, soot and ash will corrode your flue just as it does your chimney.

A fireplace can offer great supplemental heat during the winter – but not if it isn’t professionally cleaned.

Call 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., and schedule an appointment for professional chimney sweeping in the Twin Cities today.

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Choosing the Right Wood Stove for Your Home in Carver County

October 13th, 2014

A wood stove can offer both additional heating and wonderful ambience to your home. But it’s important to install a wood stove that is right for your home in order to gain the benefits. Today’s wood stoves are much more energy efficient than ones from a couple of decades ago, but because of the combustion involved with a wood stove, it’s important to hire trained professionals for both sizing and installation. If you are ready for wood stove installation in Carver County, call the people who have been doing it for two generations: 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc.

Types of Wood Stoves

In 1988, the EPA started requiring certification of all wood stoves to help reduce safety issues and make wood stoves much more efficient. In addition, the EPA also started requiring minimum emission limits for wood stoves. The result is that there are two types of wood stoves based on combustion approach:

  • Catalytic
  • Non-Catalytic

Catalytic wood stoves have a catalytic converter inside them that helps to recycle exhaust gases. The catalytic converter changes the state of the exhaust gases, which helps reduce the amount of harmful gases and allows them to burn at lower temperatures. Being able to operate a wood stove at lower burning temperatures allows for longer burn periods while also reducing your overall level of emissions; this fact can make a catalytic wood stove great for being a major source of heat in your home. Catalytic wood stoves can be as much at 10% more efficient than non-catalytic wood stoves due to lower burning temperatures.

Non-Catalytic

Non-catalytic wood stoves use the combination of a large baffle, insulated firebox and pre-heated combustion air to heat. By injecting air into the stove, a non-catalytic wood stove burns at a much higher rate, including the ignition of smoke and creosote. Non-catalytic wood stoves are mostly equal to catalytic wood stoves when it comes to high burning, but not when it comes to low burn rates. As such, the fires in a non-catalytic wood stove do not last as long as those in a catalytic wood stove.

A new wood stove installation in Carver County can be a great supplement to your home’s heating this winter.

Contact 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., today and schedule an appointment with one of our experienced wood stove installation experts. Call Us Today! 612.922.9600 or 1-888-PIXLEYS

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The Significance of Chimney Dampers

October 6th, 2014

When you’re getting ready to start a fire in your home’s hearth, what is one of the first things you should always check? You should see that the damper is open so the exhaust fumes from the fire will escape up through the flue and out of your home. (The damper is sometimes erroneously referred to as “the flue”; the flue is actually the opening that allows exhaust to escape, and the damper is what controls whether the flue is open or closed.)

The damper is an essential part of the efficient and safe operation of your home’s chimney. To make sure it continues to work well, you will occasionally need repairs and even a new chimney damper installation in St. Paul, MN. Technicians will locate damper problems during regular inspections, and should you encounter trouble with venting from the chimney or notice that the damper is failing to fully close or is stuck open, you must contact experts like those at 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. right away. We offer many services to protect your chimney venting and interior, including cleaning, chimney liners, and services for the damper.

The job of the chimney damper

There are several kinds of chimney dampers. The primary damper is the one located near the hearth which you can manipulate by hand. This damper is important during cold weather since it blocks warm air from escaping up the chimney when there is no fire in the hearth. Heat rises, making the chimney one of the easiest places for heat to escape from a home during the winter. The damper keeps your home energy-efficient, and only needs to open when you have a fire in the fireplace.

The damper is also important for keeping out musty smells and moisture from your home. A top-sealing damper is also helpful for this job. In addition to aiding the control moisture, a top-sealing damper will help trap heat in your home and keep out rain and animals that sometimes try to nest inside chimneys. A qualified technician can install a top-sealing damper (which you can then operate easily from a handle placed down near the hearth).

Aside from chimney damper installation in St. Paul, MN and the surrounding areas, we also install chimney caps, screens, vent covers, and single flue rain covers to help keep your chimney protected and your home energy efficient.

If you need a new damper or repairs for your current one, make sure to call on 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. for the work. Call Us Today! 612.922.9600 or 1-888-PIXLEYS

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Why Schedule Annual Cleaning For My Prefabricated Chimney?

September 29th, 2014

Prefabricated chimneys and fireplaces have allowed homeowners the pleasure of enjoying a fire, even if a fireplace was not an original part of the home. Some may think that a prefabricated chimney does not need cleaning – this is not true. Prefabricated chimneys in Mendota Heights need annual cleaning just as masonry ones do. However, it’s important to hire a company that understands how to properly clean a pre-fab chimney, and this is where 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., comes in. For two generations, 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., has provided chimney sweeping services, and our technicians know and understand how to clean every type of chimney there is, so call us today!

Why Do Chimneys Need to Be Cleaned?

There are a few important reasons your chimney needs to be cleaned annually:

  • Prevent a chimney fire – soot and creosote build-up quickly in your chimney. These contaminants are flammable, and when the buildup becomes thicker than a ¼ inch, it can catch fire, causing a chimney fire. Chimney fires are dangerous in any type of chimney, but prefabricated chimneys are not built to withstand great amounts of heat; as such, it is very important to have the creosote and soot removed by a trained professional.
  • Prevent corrosion of your chimney system – not only are creosote and soot flammable, they are acidic; this means they can corrode the metal and/or masonry of any chimney. Corroding metal can lead to cracks and holes, which can be very dangerous.
  • Needed for home insurance – there are multiple insurance policies that require proof of maintenance in order to keep your home insured. No one ever wants to experience a chimney fire, especially with the added complication of not having insurance coverage should something happen.
  • Increase efficiency – a large creosote buildup can restrict the flow of air in the chimney. In turn, this can reduce the efficiency of your fireplace, and also create a smoking problem.

Prefabricated chimneys are great options for homeowners who want to enjoy a warm fire without the cost of building a fireplace and chimney. But pre-fab chimney systems need to be maintained, just as any other chimney.

If you haven’t scheduled a cleaning for your prefabricated chimney in Mendota Heights, Call Us Today! 612.922.9600 or 1-888-PIXLEYS

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Why It’s Important to Schedule Professional Air Duct Cleaning

September 15th, 2014

While your HVAC system has a filter to help reduce the amount of dirt and dust in the system, the filter cannot capture every single particle. The result can be significant dirt and dust buildup in your system, and one of the areas where these types of particles settle easily is in your ductwork. There are no filters inside your ductwork to help capture this excess dust and dirt, so when your system cycles on, this dust and dirt is delivered directly to your living spaces. One of the best ways to remove dust and dirt build-up in your ductwork is by scheduling a professional air duct cleaning in Maplewood. There are several benefits to gain from cleaning your air ducts, and all cleaning should be done by trained professionals, like the ones at 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc.

Why Clean Ductwork?

There are a couple of important reasons why it’s important to have your ductwork professionally cleaned:

  • Improve indoor air quality – as we mentioned above, if there is any kind of dust and dirt buildup in your ductwork, those particles will blow directly into your living spaces every time your HVAC system cycles. This could be especially problematic for those with allergies or chronic respiratory illnesses like asthma.
  • Improve energy efficiency – if the build-up in your system is significant enough, it can impede the air flow in your system. Restricted air flow forces your system to work harder, and any time your system has to work harder, it uses more energy.

Negative Pressure

The key to successful duct cleaning is creating negative pressure inside the ductwork. This is because continuous negative pressure allows very fine particles to be removed from the system as they become airborne, ensuring that these particles are not released into the living space when the system is turned on after cleaning. Negative pressure also serves to extract the loosened contaminants, which are collected and removed from your home. To create the necessary negative pressure for a cleaning, the technician will access your system, seal off all registers, and use professional-grade vacuum equipment to create the negative pressure.

Your ductwork should be cleaned every 3-5 years. If it’s been a while since you’ve had your ducts cleaned, Call Us Today! 612.922.9600 or 1-888-PIXLEYS

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The History of Labor Day

September 1st, 2014

The official end of summer and the beginning of fall lands on September 23rd, which marks the Autumnal Equinox, when the plane of the Earth’s equator passes the center of the sun and the length of day and night are roughly equal. However, for most people in the U.S., the summer really concludes with Labor Day, the first Monday in September. Labor Day and Memorial Day (the last Monday of May) together serve as the bookends of the summer.

The Labor Day Holiday is a time that people in this country associate with a last summer blast: another reason for an outdoor picnic, a chance for a three-day vacation, family trips to amusement parks, and of course, taking advantage of numerous sales that retailers always offer. (Labor Day is often the second largest shopping day of the year after Black Friday in November.) It’s also the point when school traditionally goes back in session, although some schools start a week earlier and some a week later.

Labor Day’s origins lie in the 1880s. In 1882 Matthew Maguire, a machinist in New York City who was secretary of the Central Labor Union (CLU) at the time, and Peter J McGuire of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), first proposed a celebration of the hard working men and women of the United States. However, five years would pass before the first state made it an official holiday, Oregon. Other states quickly followed this example, although not all selected a date in September.

By 1894, thirty states had started Labor Day celebrations. President Grover Cleveland signed the law that made Labor Day a federal holiday only a week after Congress voted unanimously to approve the legislation. The date chosen for the holiday was the same one that Maguire and McGuire had originally proposed.

The U.S.A. is not the only country that celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September. Canada observes the holiday as well, although they spell it “Labour” Day. In fact, Canada celebrated the occasion earlier than the U.S., and was an early inspiration in this country for the development of the holiday.

All of us here at 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. hope you and your family—whether at work or at play—enjoy a relaxing and memorable Labor Day weekend and have a fantastic start to the fall.

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What Problems Can a Chimney Cap Prevent?

August 26th, 2014

We may still be enjoying summer, but fall is right around the corner, and with it comes a new season of heating with your fireplace. Your chimney is the outlet for your fireplace’s smoke and burning embers, so keeping it clear and safe is a priority. One of the easier ways to help keep your chimney safe is with the installation of a chimney cap to your North Oaks property. For over a decade, 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., has installed chimney caps for a multitude of customers, and we can help you with your installation.

What Is a Chimney Cap?

A chimney cap is a small cover for the opening of your chimney. Chimney caps come in a variety of styles to both protect and compliment your chimney and home.

What Are the Benefits of Installing a Chimney Cap?

There are several important benefits to installing chimney cap:

  • Block animals from nesting in your chimney – there are a variety of animals, including birds, squirrels and raccoons, that like to nest in chimneys. By covering the top of your chimney with a cap, you prevent these critters from making a home there.
  • Reduce water damage from wet weather – chimney caps significantly reduce the amount of water that enters your chimney. Rain, snow, sleet and ice can easily enter your chimney through its opening. When water gets into your chimney, it can get into the masonry, and as the water freezes due to winter temperatures, can crack the masonry. If left unattended, water damage can eventually weaken your chimney’s structure.
  • Block hot embers from the roof – burning embers from your fireplace can make their way up the chimney and onto your roof, potentially causing a fire. A chimney cap can prevent these hot embers from escaping.

Why Hire a Professional?

An improperly sized, designed, or installed chimney cap can reduce a chimney’s backdraft, which can lead to the poor burning of fuel and/or smoky rooms in your home. The best way to avoid this is to hire trained professionals, like the ones at 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc.

Chimney caps can protect your chimney and your home from some potentially serious damage. Call Us Today! 612.922.9600 or 1-888-PIXLEYS

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What Are Chimney Fires?

August 19th, 2014

Although you expect to have fires blazing inside your fireplace, you don’t want those flames to go any farther than the hearth. You may think that a fire moving up into a chimney isn’t necessarily a problem, but a chimney fire like this can be extremely destructive and require that you have special repair work done to avoid causing a house fire.

2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. is a full-service chimney and fireplace company with the training and certification necessary to handle any chimney restoration in Wayzata, MN that you may need. If you believe you’ve experienced a chimney fire, call our technicians right away for an inspection.

Chimney fires and their dangers

Conventional wisdom holds that chimneys are essentially invincible and maintenance-free. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If a chimney becomes dirty and filled with creosote, the trouble it has venting can cause a chimney fire to break out: an intense fire that ignites the combustible material collected inside the flue. Chimney fires can be extremely loud and create cracking, popping, and rumbling sounds—sometimes even audible from outside a home! But they can also go undetected if they are slow-burning. Either kind of chimney fire is destructive: they can reach 2000°F, enough to cause severe damage to any material inside the chimney.

These high temperatures are enough to cause mortar to melt, tiles to crack, and liners to collapse. This will lead to a dangerous situation, since it will permit the heat that vents through the chimney to escape to the building material surrounding it. A damaged chimney can cause a fire to start on the second floor of a home or up on the roof.

Watch for the following signs that can warn you a chimney fire has broken out: excess creosote, a warped metal damper, fallen tiles, a discolored rain cap, damaged roofing material, cracks on the outside masonry, and marks of smoke escaping through mortar joints and tiles.

If you think you have experienced a chimney fire in your home, you should schedule a Level 2 chimney inspection from a technician certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA). This thorough inspection will determine what repairs and restoration work are necessary. In most cases, the fireplace restorationists will need to replace the chimney liner to ensure that heat cannot escape through broken tiles and clay liners to reach the combustible material outside.

You can have all your chimney problems taken care of through one contractor: 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. We are certified with the CSIA and can take care of all your needs for repairs and chimney restoration in Wayzata, MN.

Call us today to set up an appointment, and keep us in mind for your regular inspections and chimney sweeping that will help you avoid chimney fires in the future.

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How to Prepare for Chimney Sweeping in Minneapolis, MN

August 12th, 2014

Your fireplace chimney should have annual sweeping service from certified chimney sweeps (certification is from the Chimney Safety Institute of America) to keep it clean and safely venting exhaust fumes out of your home. Your chimney sweeps will also check for any safety issues from damaged components, such as a faulty chimney damper.

When you receive chimney sweeping in Minneapolis, MN from the certified team at 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc., you will receive a Level 1 chimney inspection along with the cleaning. This visual inspection will make sure that you do not have potential trouble from creosote, debris, or flue damage. We are a full service company for fireplaces and chimneys, and you will have a hard time finding more experienced technicians for caring for your home’s hearth.

When you schedule a chimney sweep visit, there are some ways you can prepare that will make the cleaning process easier and faster:

  • First, clear away the area around the fireplace, in particular the mantle. You don’t want to have any valuable decoration you have on the mantle to receive any damage.
  • Second, clean out the fireplace itself of any unburnt wood or fuel that is still in it. Remove excess ashes as well. It is advisable that you do not use the fireplace for 24 hours before the sweeping appointment.
  • Third, to protect your furnishings that are near to the fireplace (sweeping can produce a large amount of soot) you should either cover them or remove them from the area. The chimney sweeps will take care of laying down floor coverings that will protect your carpet, rugs, floorboards, etc. from damage.
  • Fourth, if you are concerned about other parts of your home, you may wish to lay down papers from the door to the fireplace. However, if you have hired a quality company with proper certification, the chimney sweeps will do everything they can to respect your home and wear protective, disposable covers on their shoes.
  • Fifth, contact your chimney sweeps if you have additional questions regarding the service or what you can do to help prepare.

The actual sweeping service will go speedily and will create minimal disruption on daily activities. If you have 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. performing your chimney sweeping in Minneapolis, MN, the technicians will provide you with the findings from the Level 1 inspection. They will recommend whether you need a Level 2 or 3 chimney inspection, as well as recommendations for any repairs you may need.

Make us your first choice when it comes to any service you may need for your fireplace and chimney. Call Us Today! 612.922.9600 or 1-888-PIXLEYS

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