How often should you have your chimney cleaned? This is a question many home owners face today, especially if they are planning on using their chimney. Chimneys can be dangerous if not cleaned properly or are left dirty for a number of years. Dirty chimneys can cause fires, which can destroy your home. Cleaning your chimney takes a professional and cannot be effectively accomplish by a regular homeowner.
Most homes come equipped with a fireplace and chimney ready to use. Chimneys are a staple of any home and provide some of the best settings to sit and talk with family or friends. They also increase the home value as much as $12,000. There are many people have fireplaces in their homes, and use them frequently, but not all of them are sure how often they should clean their fireplace.
Cleaning chimneys should especially not be overlooked by homeowners who use their fireplace often or who plan to use their fireplace after years of idling. If you are buying a new home and plan to use the fireplace, it is smart to ask the home seller about their use of the chimney, how often they had it cleaned, if it has steel chimney liners and most importantly a chimney cover. Steel liners improve the safety of the chimney and without a chimney cover, smoke can back up into the fireplace and fill your home with smoke.
Home owner’s wondering if they should use their chimney should know of the advantages a clean chimney can give your home. Using chimney accessories such as liners can help improve your home’s energy efficiency and enable greener living. A clean chimney helps improve the stability and heat of your fire and will help you stay warm during cold winter nights.
So, when asked, “how often should you have your chimney cleaned” a good response would be “how often do you use it?” The amount of times a chimney should be cleaned is directly effected by the amount of times the fireplace is in use. The more time you use your fire, the more times you should have your chimney cleaned.