Whether you’ve owned your home for some time or you have just purchased one and are moving in, you should always look into professional cleaning for essential areas. Your home’s value will diminish if you neglect parts that require regular maintenance and cleaning – this includes all chimneys and fireplaces. It’s easy to put this type of thing on the backburner, since you may not use the fireplace that often. Regardless of whether or not you’re going to be using it often, you should adhere to a few rules of thumb when it comes to your home.
The Fire Issue
First and foremost, if you do not take proper care of your chimney, you may have a fire on your hands, even with occasional use. The debris that gets stuck inside the opening and interior of the compartments within the fireplace and chimney has flammable elements. With just a little spark a line of fire could ramp up and go through the home fast. Creosote is extremely combustible and can definitely put a serious issue into play for your home. It’s a fire hazard to forego proper cleaning and preventative maintenance.
Preventative Measures
There are several pieces to a chimney, and not all of it is visible. You may see the visible element at the roof, but you will find that there is a lot more to it than that. The masonry, flashing, cap, crown, and interior lining all have to be inspected, cleaned, and upgraded from time to time. This should not be neglected due to cost, or due to time constraints. As stated above, creosote is a fire hazard that builds up when you do not have a professional work on this in due time. Preventative measures are always more cost effective than having to pay for repairs of damage, or risk fire that could completely spread through your home.
Better Safe than Sorry
At the end of the day, the best thing to do is simply never forget to get an inspection. The least you can do is call for an inspection of your chimney, roofing, and compartments of your fireplaces. Whether you have one or several, keeping an eye on them can keep your home safe from fire. The CSIA (Chimney Safety Institute of America) recommends that even chimneys that are never used be inspected once per year to ensure they’re still keeping elemental damage at bay.
You may not always burn a log, but you want to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that nothing is going to happen if you do decide to light a fire to ward off the night’s chill or for a romantic evening at home. When the temperatures drop and you want to warm up with a fire, you want to ensure that you are not only safe, but that your family is safe too. By simply maintaining scheduled maintenance, inspections, and cleaning, you are going to be doing yourself a favor today, and for the future.