While many people know that they should clean their chimneys, studies show that only a few of them do it. As a homeowner here are a few things you should know about chimney cleaning.

Failing to clean your chimney is dangerous

The chimney might seem harmless but it poses a lot of danger if you don’t properly maintain it. When you stay for a long time without cleaning your chimney you give creosote time to build up inside your unit. If you didn’t know, when creosote catches fire, it burns at over 2000 degrees. These temperatures are too high to the extent that they can burn your entire house.

In addition to this, when you don’t clean your unit regularly, bats, squirrels, and other animals can build up nests and even die up in your chimney. As a result, there is a blockage that prevents fresh air from leaving your unit. This can be catastrophic if you use wood in your fireplace as carbon monoxide doesn’t effectively leave the house thus putting you and your family at the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

It’s good to hire a chimney cleaning professional

If you have the time, skill, and don’t fear to get dirty, you can go ahead and clean your chimney. While by doing this you save money, it’s always wise to hire a chimney contractor to help you with the work. In addition to the contractor cleaning the unit for you, he/she also inspects the unit and makes the necessary adjustments. The professional also has professional chimney sweeping tools thus he/she will most likely give your chimney a cleaner look. For a great experience, you should work with an experienced and certified contractor.

You can reduce the frequency of chimney cleaning

Chimney experts recommend that you clean your chimney at least once a year but you should do it more frequently if you regularly use your unit. To reduce the cost of cleaning and the stress that it comes with, you should watch how you use the chimney. If you have a wooden chimney, avoid using green wood. The best way of going about it is using seasoned wood. This is wood that has been air dried for at least a year thus doesn’t produce a lot of soot.

Conclusion

These are some of the things that you should know about cleaning your chimney. To have an easy time you should work with a reputable chimney professional who not only cleans the unit, but also undertakes chimney inspection and recommends how to keep your chimney in top shape.