Fireplace Information Blog

The outside of the home gets so much love in the summer. Homeowners eager to enjoy the outdoors plant gardens, spruce up their home’s curb appeal and even update exterior trim or siding. As temperatures soar, this winter seems so far away. But, let’s face it. When people think about chimneys and fireplaces they think about winter. With last year’s record breaking freezing temperatures and snowfall still fresh in some people’s mind, most of us want to enjoy our hot and humid days as long as possible. But like the rest of the exterior of your home, your chimney could use a decorative update this summer. There are some creative ways to spruce up your chimney during the warm summer months. We have several options to help you adorn your fireplace and chimney.

Chimney pots are a neat way to transform the look of your chimney. If you are unfamiliar them, then you might be asking yourself  “What are chimney pots?” Chimney pots are decorative pots that sit atop a chimney, enhancing the look of one of your home’s most prominent features. While most chimney pots are round, they do come in a variety of shapes and sizes that fit nicely with the style of any home. Whether your home is the classic Spanish style home or a mid-century modern style, there is a perfect chimney pot design for your home.

It is true that most people choose chimney pots primarily to update the look of their chimney. However, these pots have a functional value as well. Chimney pots help improve fireplace drafts due to their tapered designs. Fireplace drafts happen, naturally, when you turn on your fireplace. That

Letting a family of migratory birds, such as Chimney Swifts, inhabit chimneys may not be for everyone. But the good news is that it is very simple to prevent this with bird proof chimney caps. The only tricky part is you will have to install the cap while the birds are living down south.

When a chimney professional comes over to install a chimney cap, have them check for an active nest of birds. If one is found, reschedule the installation for after the Chimney Swifts (or other birds) have migrated back to their native land.

It is illegal for a chimney sweep to remove a bird’s nest or eggs (for migratory birds). Once the fowls have left and your chimney has been cleaned, the chimney cap may be installed and you will no longer be troubled by birds in your chimney. Another bonus is that caps like our round chimney caps provide many other beneficial features, including preventing falling leaves, rain water and other harmful creatures or things from falling into your chimney.

Birds have trouble balancing on horizontal tree limbs (or anything horizontal for that matter). Chimney Swifts are accustomed to the vertical and textured walls of a chimney and the insides of a hollowed out tree. Bird’s legs and feet are designed for the lifestyle of holding onto the ridges of the walls. The nests they build jut out from the chimney walls and are held together by the bird’s glue-like saliva.

To survive, the Chimney Swift catches and eats up to one third of its weight every day in insects during fight.  In the summer months, they migrate to the North and when the weather turns chilly, the birds head back down to South America to avoid the cold. Moving to a different type of habitat allows the birds more options on where to nest.

There has always been speculation about the necessity of having a chimney cap for chimneys. In all reality, having a chimney cap will help protect your chimney and your home from all different types of damages, which can be prevented by utilizing the chimney cap as soon as possible. Here we have listed 2 of the main reasons why we focus on the importance of a chimney cap.

Reasons for A Chimney Cap

• Unwanted Guests

  First and foremost, unwanted guests - Chimneys are naturally built to be exposed at the top to allow all of the excess from the fireplace, up the flue, and outside of the home. Now, chimneys are open at the top for a very good reason on behalf of ourselves and our families. Unfortunately animals have also adopted the idea that it is a wonderful idea. With that being said, going without a chimney cap can lead to all sorts of critters going down into the flue and down into your chimney. Birds and the nest they create naturally, are a serious hazard for chimneys without a chimney cap. A birds nest can actually block a chimney flue, which can lead to carbon monoxide buildup inside of the home because it cannot escape up the flue. In many cases not having a chimney cap, and birds creating their homes in the flue can cause a chimney fire, which can be deadly. It isn't just animals, human beings have also been known to attempt to climb down a chimney without realizing the size limitations, they then get stuck and some have ended up with the most undesirable fate.

• Rain Damage Prevention

  The other main reason for a chimney cap is to prevent any rain damage - when rain gets into an uncapped chimney it causes the flue itself to deteriorate as well as the smoke shelf and the area down below it. Many many people are completely unaware of this but rainwater plus coal soot forms sulfuric acid, which can be detrimentally destructive. Rainwater can also rust a fireplace damper, as well as rusting the innards

There’s a unique romance to a wooden stove that is unlike what home owner may feel for an oil or gas furnace. Some of the key factors that create that romance are the economic factors, the overall aesthetic, and the undeniable efficiency. When you have a wood stove, there’s a promise of a heating system that is independent and non-reliant on other local utilities. Plus, they create a cozy setting with great ease.

When you’re attempting to fix any problem, it helps to know a little bit about how the system you’re troubleshooting works. In terms of fixing a chimney, there are several confusing terms, some more technical than others. However, if there’s one thing you need to know about chimneys, it’s that even the simplest chimney draft problems can create an unhealthy and unforgiving living environment.

If you invest in an older home, there’s a good chance that it has a wood burning fireplace rather than an electric one, which builders are now putting in the newer model homes. For those who have lived in an older home, they understand the importance of fireplace maintenance which means having the pit inspected as well as all the way up the flue. Now, with that being said, a licensed chimney inspector will <

Everyone loves to curl up next to a warm and cozy fire during the winter, but the fire isn’t warm and cozy if you haven’t properly maintained your fireplace. A safe and clean fireplace is a warm and cozy fireplace, bottom line. So, how do you keep up on your fireplace maintenance? Lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks for making sure you keep your fireplace and chimney liner in good shape so that when winter hits, you’re all set to throw in some fresh firewood and light it up.<

Spring is the perfect time to clean your chimney. During the winter months when you were enjoying the fire with your family, lots of gunk has been building up on the inside of your chimney. While this type of cleaning should be left to professionals, some people would like to take a do it yourself approach to this task.

After winter, when the temperatures begin to rise, you’ll notice you do not have to light as many fires as you did, so there’s really no need to keep your chimney open. While you don’t need to clean your fireplace as soon as that last bit of snow melts, it’s a good idea to add it to your spring cleaning list that you’ve been working on.