Your Summer Chimney: Give it a Rest with Chimney Quest!

Maryn Williams • June 29, 2015
Summer time is a great time to lighten up your home. And how lovely does a beautiful collection of favorite seasonal blooms from your own garden look gracing the hearth? Shutting down your Middle Tennessee chimney is an important home maintenance habit many homeowners observe each year. If you’ve never shut down your chimney before, Chimney Quest is here to help. Here are a 4 quick steps that should be taken to close your chimney down until the brisk chill of fall returns to the air.

STEP 1. Cleaning… Before closing your fireplace for the season, all soot or ash deposits must be removed from the hearth. It’s also important to have your chimney swept and inspected annually by a certified chimney sweep to remove any soot and creosote in the body of the chimney. If this hasn’t been done yet, now is the time. Leftover residue in these areas will moisten and give off unpleasant odors inside your home. At Chimney Quest, we can apply professional chimney deodorants to eliminate any stubborn chimney odors, and return your home to its sweet smelling summer best!

STEP 2. Inspection… While you have a chimney sweep there to do the cleaning, you might as well have an overall chimney inspection completed too. In addition to looking for residue build up, a sweep can check the condition of various components, inspecting them for cracks and leaks. Two key components that may prove troublesome in the spring are the flashing system and rain cap. Each of these items works to protect the chimney from water leakage, which is more likely during the spring rainy season. A professional chimney sweep will ensure that these parts are intact and undamaged, keeping your home safe from flooding. The inspector will check all other key items, including chimney piping, which could have become corroded from prolonged heat exposure, and replace it if needed. To further guard your home, the chimney damper/cap should be securely closed too, which will keep out pesky animals that like to invade your chimney, like raccoons.

STEP 3. Close the Damper… If you are planning to shut down your chimney for the season, for all wood-burning fireplaces the damper needs to be closed. Truly, any time your wood-burning fireplace is unused for an extended period of time, the damper should be closed to block air and odors from entering and exiting the house. If air is escaping from your home and into a wood-burning fireplace unit, glass doors can be installed and work together with the closed damper, creating a tighter seal. DISCLAIMER: gas fireplaces are very different from a wood-burning unit, and should always have an open damper.

STEP 4. Shut Down the Pilot…You know that little flame that remains lit in your gas fireplace? If you haven’t already turned it off at the onset of your chimney’s dormant period, do so now. Or of course, we’ll do it for you. While the pilot light isn’t very strong, it does use up plenty of energy over a period of time, costing you money. So, shut it down until you’re ready to resume fireplace function again.

Caring for your chimney and fireplace now is the best way to ensure that that it will be in top condition at the advent of fall and winter’s chilly temperatures. Give us a call at Chimney Quest today! Our licensed, experienced chimney professionals will be happy to provide answers to any questions you have. For all your Nashville chimney cleaning and inspection needs, chimney repair, or upgrades call Chimney Quest at 615-292-7411.

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