If your home has a fireplace, hiring a professional chimney sweep will keep your space safe and clean. Additionally, with regular maintenance, having a fireplace may increase the resale value of your home.
No matter where you live or how often you use your fireplace, getting it professionally cleaned and inspected is vital to your safety.
Read on for a list of five tips for hiring a professional chimney sweep service. These pros will help to keep your abode comfortable and safe.
1. Chimney Sweeps Remove Obstructions
Look for professional chimney sweepers who can remove dangerous obstructions, including possible pests. Many animals love to “nest” in chimneys during the winter months, but this can pose a serious threat to your home.
Without the proper tools, skills, and knowledge, you could end up injured if you try to remove obstructions on your own. Always consult a professional who can inspect and assess your chimney, then remove anything blocking it.
Never try to burn obstructions to remove them, and don’t attempt to “smoke out” any animals living inside the chimney. This could start a serious and potentially deadly house fire or expose you and your family to carbon monoxide. An experienced chimney sweep will help clear the flue, ensuring that your fireplace and chimney are safe and obstruction-free.
2. Hire a Chimney Sweep to Prevent House Fires
Any kind of chimney clearing that you attempt to do DIY can potentially result in a serious house fire. When creosote builds up inside the chimney, it presents a real hazard.
Creosote buildup is a black, tar-like substance. Over time, it starts to get inside wood-burning chimneys and fireplaces. Keeping a close eye on this buildup is vital to prevent a possible fire.
Even something as small as a spark or extremely high temperatures can cause even a small amount of creosote to ignite. Creosote fires can burn for a long time, which means your home is at serious risk if it’s not cleared.
A professional chimney sweep in Baton Rouge can remove the substance using special equipment and chemicals. This is your best bet if you want to ensure that your wood-burning fireplace and chimney are creosote-free.
3. Count on a Pro to Find Hidden Problems
Always choose an experienced chimney sweeper to help you find hidden issues that could pose a serious threat to your home. If you try to clean your fireplace and chimney yourself, you could miss these possible hazards.
Every part of your chimney needs to work in synergy to keep your home safe. A professional chimney sweep provider can identify possible problems ahead of time to ensure that the correct changes are made.
These hidden hazards may include issues with the brick and mortar of the chimney, the flue, or the damper system. Many of these components tend to go unnoticed by the average homeowner.
A professional chimney cleaner can find the problems now so that they can be corrected. As time goes on, chimneys may start to wear down due to temperature fluctuations, weather exposure, or consistent exposure to corrosive materials. Getting regularly scheduled cleanings will ensure that these problems are handled in a timely manner to keep you safe.
4. Professional Chimney Sweep Services Improve Efficiency
When you search for the right chimney sweep, make sure they offer regular cleaning and inspections. This simple task helps you ensure that your fireplace isn’t just safe, but also that it’s operating in an efficient way.
A clean fireplace and chimney run a lot more efficiently to heat your home, and it’s also better for the environment, too. An efficiently-burning fire produces more heat, which means you’ll need to run your home’s heating system less. This could save you quite a bit of money on your monthly winter heating bills.
An efficient fireplace also produces less smoke and harmful emissions, too. Get your fireplace and chimney cleaned on a regular basis by a professional to prevent issues and ensure everything is working as it should.
5. Knowledge Is Power
It’s always nice to think that you can handle most problems DIY when it comes to your home. However, hiring a professional chimney sweep provides you with the level of service needed to maintain and care for this crucial part of your house.
Maintaining and repairing chimneys takes skill, hard work, and training. No two chimneys are exactly alike. But professional chimney sweeps can do fireplace cleaning and maintenance in practically every style and design under the sun.
Years of hands-on experience means that the chimney sweeper you hire can tackle any task. Sure, some things are fine to do yourself, but cleaning and caring for the fireplace and chimney is best left to the professionals.
Sticking with the pros can save you tons of money in the long run, especially when it comes to protecting your investment. Always look for a chimney sweep company that has extensive experience dealing with this crucial part of your home.
Protect Your Fireplace and Chimney With Help from the Pros
No matter what type of fireplace you have, hiring a professional chimney sweep provides you with a wide range of benefits. From a cleaner and more efficient system to identifying problems early on, stick with the experts to give you peace of mind.
If you need a chimney sweep in Baton Rouge or anywhere in Louisiana, be sure to fill out this form to get an instant quote from SootServ today.