When you own a home that has a chimney, there are times that homeowners must give the chimney thorough cleaning. Sometimes, they will only need a simple yearly cleaning, but sometimes a homeowner will discover an extra guest that lives in their flue.
Everyone knows that bees are intimidating, and people understand that homeowners with infestations would want to get the problem diagnosed. The best thing is to hire a chimney inspection service that will diagnose the issue. It is best to have it diagnosed early because you do not want to spend more damages that could have been prevented early.
In this article, you will learn more about getting rid of bees in your chimney.
Precautions
It is dangerous to remove bees and something that you should not do on your own.
You should use a certified keeper outfit and you need the right equipment when you work on the roof and inside the chimney.
Even if you have the proper equipment, you might still not be experienced or knowledgeable enough to remove bees from your chimney safely.
Therefore, you must always talk to a professional to seek advice, even if you are deciding for yourself.
Prevention
In order to prevent wasps, bees, and other insects from going into your chimney, you should install the right damper. A top damper has a metal door that closes off the opening to close your chimney. You can open and close your damper by using a cable down your chimney to a latch that is installed inside the fireplace.
Make Sure that Your Chimney is in Excellent Shape
When you keep your chimney in good repair, it is the most effective way to prevent bees from building a hive. Regular fireplace and chimney maintenance reduces or eliminates the necessity for pest control or an exterminator. However, you should contact a professional right away when you notice that a bee activity also helps.
You Should be Worried About Bees in Your Chimney Stack
Yes, and if you just leave it be, the beeswax and honey is going to seep into the masonry of your home and it can cause odor, mold, and your bricks will start to rot.
This can also attract other pests to come and eat it like bee moths, ants, and wax worms. If you will wait until winter so that the bees want to go away, you are going to risk a fire hazard when you use the fireplace because material deposits are very flammable.
You will also risk permanent damage to your home.
If You Plan to Move the Hive, Move it Up
The reason for this is that most brick chimneys are built with a smoke shelf, which blocks the hive from going down to your fireplace to remove it. In case the hive gets stuck on the smoke shelf, you would have to clean up honey, beeswax, and even dead bees to clean.
This is very hard to clean and it requires you to partially take out the masonry from the chimney in order to purge it.
This can also become a fire hazard since it is so close to the flame. In case you accidentally push or drop the hive near the chute, call a professional right away.
After the Removal
After getting rid of the bees, you would require a chimney sweep cleaning service to take out the honeycomb which has been left behind by the bees. This one is flammable, so in order to completely remove it, you must contact professionals.
Do not hesitate to call chimney sweep Bowie for this.
