A fireplace is a great comfort in wintry weather, but to enjoy that comfort, your fireplace and chimney require regular maintenance. Beyond simple comfort, a poorly maintained chimney or fireplace can also be a safety hazard, with a number of possible issues that can arise. In this post, we’ll take a solid look at the various aspects of getting regular fireplace and chimney maintenance services for your New Braunfels home so that you can have a better idea of what to expect.
The Importance of Regular Fireplace and Chimney Maintenance
At the heart of your regular maintenance cycle is the annual chimney and and fireplace inspection. Though this process can be handled less often, fireplace and chimney inspections and repairs are often required on an annual basis by many homeowners’ insurance policies. These processes are important because they improve your home’s overall safety by catching issues with your fireplace and chimney early on.
The Safety Implications of an Annual Chimney Inspection
When you burn something in your fireplace, it’s designed in a way that the smoke and fumes should go up the chimney and away from your home. However, if there are blockages or other issues that are causing problems with the draft that makes this process work, creosote can build up to lead to a chimney fire, or carbon monoxide can back up into your home, creating a significant health hazard that can be fatal.
The annual inspection starts in the chimney’s interior, checking for cracks and damage that may have occurred since the last inspection. It then moves up to the roof to check the masonry, cap, and crown for damage. If everything is good to go, cleaning is performed, and the system is ready for the heating season.
Fireplace Maintenance
The first place that will be checked during your inspection will be your chimney fire box, where the fire will actually be lit. As part of what’s considered the fireplace, this can have either be a gas log or a wood burning fireplace.
If there are problems in the fireplace, such as an aging insert or a log that isn’t performing properly, fireplace replacements can be considered to ensure proper performance and superior efficiency. Fireplace inserts often help get additional heat out of the fireplace into the home through blowers or other means of heating air beyond direct radiant heat from the fire.
Chimney Maintenance
The beginning of the process of chimney maintenance is chimney cleaning, typically involving chimney sweeping unless you have a great deal of creosote that requires a deeper chimney cleaning as a one-time event. This process uses stiff brushes, typically of metal or plastic, to scrub ash, soot, and creosote from the insides of your chimney.
If there are issues found in the chimney, such as cracks or issues with masonry joints, chimney relining service may be required. This often involves placing a metal liner up the interior of the chimney to seal it against leaking fumes into the rest of the home or business.
If there are issues with the masonry, masonry repair services may be needed to get the chimney back into safe condition to operate effectively and efficiently. Similarly, issues with the chimney cap and chimney crown may require some chimney repairs to keep the chimney operating effectively.
What if you’re seeing water inside the fireplace or water stains on the ceiling near the chimney? These can be signs that you need leaky chimney repairs so that you can continue operating your chimney safely. This waterproofing process ensures that the masonry is in decent shape, with tuckpointing performed to improve the performance of the mortar.
Appliance Vent Maintenance
One aspect of chimney and fireplace services that is often overlooked is maintenance and repair of appliance vents. Whether it’s a dryer, furnace, water heater, or other appliance, ventilation is an aspect of that appliance’s maintenance that is often overlooked, sometimes to terrible effect.
Dryer fires account for 92% of the 15,970 home fires that occurred in the US from 2010 to 2014. In the majority of these cases, dryer vents had not been thoroughly cleaned, causing the lint to catch fire in 27% of these fires. A dryer vent cleaning service can prevent this type of tragedy when performed by a qualified dryer exhaust technician.
Getting regular fireplace and chimney maintenance services for your New Braunfels home will help keep your property safe from these dangers while providing superior performance from your heating and household appliances year in and year out. If you need to schedule appliance vent maintenance or regular fireplace and chimney maintenance services for your New Braunfels home the experienced chimney professionals at Wolfman Chimney & Fireplace are ready to help. Why not reach out today and see how we can help you?
Reach us online, send us a text, or call us at 830-620-4335 today!