Have Your Chimney Inspected – Prevent House Fires

I know that last week was National Fire Prevention Week, but it’s never a bad time to think about fire prevention, and as we creep hesitantly towards winter, now would be a good time to remind people of some things to do to prepare you home for the winter months.  One thing in particular, is taking a look at your chimney.  We typically don’t think about it because the process is simple.  We light a fire in the fireplace, the smoke goes up the chimney, and that’s it.  That’s where you would be wrong.  Listen to this.

Experts say that the chimney is one of the most neglected parts of the home.  They also recommend yearly inspections, not necessarily to be cleaned, but inspected for cracks and breakages that could lead to a full blown fire in your house.

During an inspection, they check for flammable creosote buildup.  Not cleaning the creosote out is one of the primary reasons for fires across the United States, for chimney fires.

The National Fire Protection Association reports, from 2007 to 2011, failure to clean chimneys accounted for 28% of home heating fires. However, that’s not the only thing that could go wrong.

Making sure the brickwork itself is in place, because any places with cracks in the cement, can radiate heat out into the building materials and cause a fire.

Burn hot, good wood, and don’t shut your air down. A lot of guys have a tendency to shut the air down and keep the warm air in the home, but what you’re doing is, shutting the air off from going up the chimney and that causes a creosote buildup.

Here’s something else, use chimney cleaning logs to burn one at a time. Specialty logs, which produces temperatures too high for many homes to handle. It’s important to get your chimney inspected even if you use these cleaning logs.

Those with the fire department also say not to neglect gas fireplaces. Ask your heating and air company to check it to make sure everything is in working order and remember to check your carbon monoxide detector.