Chimney Maintenance

Water staining near a chimney is usually blamed on the roof or the masonry. More often the culprit is the flashing at the joint between them.

Gas fireplaces get skipped because there is no soot to clean. They still need annual attention, and the reasons have nothing to do with creosote.

If the fireplace only smells when the range hood or dryer is running, the chimney is not the source of the problem so much as the victim of it. Here is what negative pressure does.

The liner is the part of the chimney doing the actual safety work, and it is the part you cannot see. Here is what the three common types are, how each fails, and what replacement involves.

A chimney cap is a small inexpensive part guarding the one opening the whole system depends on. Here is what gets in when it is missing, and how the damage compounds.

Wood sold as seasoned frequently is not. Wet wood makes less heat and far more creosote, so knowing how to check it yourself changes what your chimney looks like by February.

A blocked flue does not announce itself. Carbon monoxide has no smell and no color, and the early symptoms look like ordinary illness. Here is what blocks a flue and how to protect against it.

Before you light the first fire of the year, six checks take about ten minutes and catch the problems that turn a pleasant evening into a smoke-filled room.

Northern Illinois winters cross the freezing point over and over, and each cycle works on any water that got into your chimney masonry. Here is how that damage progresses and where to catch it.

A damper that will not close leaks heated air all winter. One that will not open fills the room with smoke. Here is why dampers seize, what you can check yourself, and when it needs a professional.