Cleaning your chimney on a regular basis — at least once a year — is a best practice to ensure your chimney and fireplace are free of any defects here on the East Coast.
Even if a mild winter is in store and you rarely use your fireplace, an inspection will keep everything fine-tuned for use. Delaying a chimney cleaning and inspection because you don’t use it often can result in high-cost repairs in the future.
Here are a few reasons to get your East Coast fireplace and chimney cleaned and inspected, regardless of the frequency of use:
- A dirty fireplace burns inefficiently, preventing warmth from entering the home, and instead pushing smoke into the living space. A dirty firebox and chimney can make burning a fire a hassle, keeping you from enjoying the warmth and ambiance a clean chimney and fireplace provides.
- An unused, stagnant fireplace can smell, as animals use the chimney as their home, leaving behind feathers, fur or droppings. Leaves also can find their way in to rot away. The odor created can be exacerbated by rain, making the stench unbearable. A clean fireplace and chimney will not smell foul but instead smell only like the crackling firewood burning.
- By putting off a cleaning and inspection, you run the risk of increasing your liability. A blocked chimney — whether from animals, leaves or creosote — greatly increases the risk of a chimney fire that could spread. And, if the unthinkable happens, your insurance company might require proof of a recent cleaning and inspection before paying the claim.
- It’s always best to find any structural issue early, to rectify them before they grow to costly and time-consuming repairs. A thorough cleaning and inspection every year will help find these issues, before they grow out of control, minimizing the time and money needed to fix them.
At MCP Chimney and Masonry, we have the expertise, knowledge and tools to accurately and thoroughly clean and inspect your chimney and fireplace, giving you peace of mind that your structure is ready for East Coast use.
MCP Chimney technicians inspect your chimney liner, firebox, hearth and damper among other parts of the fireplace system to make sure it’s safe. To schedule your cleaning and inspection, contact us today.
