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A fireplace in your home may be a wonderful way to enjoy a quiet evening at home while also keeping your home warm during the winter months. While a fireplace may be a lot of fun, it does require some care and maintenance to keep it clean and safe. A regular chimney cleaning is one of the most critical services you should have done.
Chimney cleaning may appear to be a do-it-yourself project, and it can be if you have the professional tools, knowledge, and skill needed to complete the task safely and correctly. If you don’t have those tools or haven’t been trained as a chimney sweep, though, it’s probably preferable to hire a pro.
Reasons to get your chimneys cleaned by a pro
Here are a few key reasons why:
Experience
Though chimney sweeping may appear to be as simple as inserting a brush into the chimney to dislodge soot and debris, it is actually rather complicated. There are no two chimneys that are alike. When you hire a professional to sweep your chimney, you can be assured that the technician’s years of experience will keep you and your family safe, especially since he or she will most likely check your chimney as part of the procedure. It’s much better if you can find a CSIA-certified chimney sweep who has passed an exam to demonstrate their knowledge.
Fix issues as soon as possible
Unless you’ve spent years working in the chimney industry and have seen every possible problem, there’s a considerable possibility you’ll look at a potentially significant problem while cleaning out your chimney and not realize it. When you hire a professional, you’re getting someone who can look at a chimney and immediately spot a potential problem. This means he or she can suggest a solution that will cost you less now than it will later when it causes major damage to your house.
Spend less
Though hiring a professional to sweep your chimney may cost more upfront, if he or she discovers an issue, you might save thousands – if not tens of thousands – of dollars by addressing it sooner rather than later. For example, if you fail to identify a leak and it remains untreated for months, the subsequent water damage could result in serious rot and $10,000 in repairs. If you’d hired a pro, those identical fixes could have cost you an extra $100 on top of the cleaning fee.
Access to resources
Believe it or not, when it comes to cleaning and inspecting your chimney, a professional chimney sweep uses expensive top-of-the-line equipment. Power tools, especially if there is a lot of creosote buildup, are often required, and high-tech camera systems allow the specialists to get a good close look at the inner workings of your chimney during an examination. These tools are also quite expensive, thus they are only used by professionals.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever wondered if sweeping your chimney yourself might save you money, the four reasons listed above should convince you otherwise.
