Advice For Cleaning Residential Chimneys Safely And Thoroughly

Posted on: 6 April 2021

Chimney cleaning is required for all homes that have fireplaces. It's an effective way to neutralize odors and built-up smoke on the inside. If you want chimney cleaning to be easy to handle each time it's required, use the following recommendations. 

Place Down a Tarp for a Cleaner Process

Cleaning any part of your home's chimney is generally going to be a messy process. That doesn't mean you don't want to plan in advance. An easy thing you can do prior to starting this cleaning job is setting out a large tarp. Then, even if soot and wood chips get on the floor, the tarp will be there to collect them.

Then, once you're finished with chimney cleaning completely, you can easily fold the tarp up and relocate the things that collected on it to the outside portion of your home. There may be minimal cleanup that you have to perform afterward.

Check for Potential Obstructions

While you're cleaning the inside of your chimney and around it, you might as well look to see if there are potential obstructions. It could be things from the outside that made their way inside. It's important that you remove them if they are detected during your chimney cleaning, because otherwise, smoke may not move throughout your chimney properly.

If the obstructions are too severe, then smoke actually could come back into your home. If you can access them yourself, then you may not need to hire a chimney servicing company. If they are high up in the chimney though, you may want to hire a professional chimney cleaning service to safely alleviate them without causing damage to the chimney. 

Still Have Chimney Inspected by Professionals

Even if you have a good chimney cleaning schedule down and there doesn't seem to be major warning signs of trouble, it still is a good idea to have this aspect of your home professionally inspected every year.

When you do, professionals can make sure your cleaning methods are effective at alleviating soot and debris. If they're not, they can show you what adjustments you need to make. It may be using different tools or adjusting your cleaning frequency.

Chimneys must be cleaned in order to stay in a safe, optimal condition. You can handle a lot of cleaning steps yourself if you're careful about what steps you take and the products you use in this area of your home. 

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