{"id":342,"date":"2019-08-01T13:02:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T20:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/?p=342"},"modified":"2019-08-01T13:02:45","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T20:02:45","slug":"chimney-cleaning-its-a-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/chimney-cleaning-its-a-good-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Chimney Cleaning: It&#8217;s a Good Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\">Chimney fires cause many houses to burn down each year. In many cases, if the homeowner had called a chimney sweep and had the chimney cleaned, the fire could have been prevented.<\/p>\n<p>Chimney cleaning helps prevent chimney fires, and anyone with an active, wood-burning wood stove or fireplace in their home can go a long way toward avoiding disaster by having their chimney cleaned and inspected at least once a year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why Chimneys Catch on Fire<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When wood burns and the gases and smoke exit through the chimney, a layer of creosote begins to stick to the inside of the chimney. Creosote is an oily byproduct of wood burning, and it is highly flammable. When a thick layer is present, the heat from the fire can cause it to ignite, and then you have a fire burning inside the chimney.<\/p>\n<p>If this happens, you may hear a roaring sound in the chimney, or if you have a metal flue, it may turn red with the heat. If this happens, close the fireplace dampers if possible, and call 911.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How Do You Know if a Chimney Needs Cleaning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Signs of a dirty chimney include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Poor draw of air and smoke up the chimney,<\/li>\n<li>Black, crumbly debris falling out of the chimney into the wood stove or fireplace,<\/li>\n<li>Smoke backing up into the house,<\/li>\n<li>Strong, burning smell.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can help prevent excessive creosote build-up by only burning well-seasoned firewood. Unseasoned, wet wood contains more creosote than seasoned wood, and burning paper or trash also adds to excessive creosote build-up. Some species of wood, such as pine, also contain more creosote than other types of wood. So, if you burn high-creosote containing firewood, have your chimney cleaned more often.<\/p>\n<p>Regular chimney cleaning is an essential part of safely using a wood-burning stove or fireplace. Ignoring this maintenance task can lead to disaster.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/contact.php\">Contact us<\/a> for more information about chimney cleaning, inspection, and repair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chimney fires cause many houses to burn down each year. In many cases, if the homeowner had called a chimney sweep and had the chimney cleaned, the fire could have been prevented. Chimney cleaning helps prevent chimney fires, and anyone with an active, wood-burning wood stove or fireplace in their home can go a long&#8230;  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/chimney-cleaning-its-a-good-idea\/\" class=\"more-link\" title=\"Read Chimney Cleaning: It&#8217;s a Good Idea\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[68,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343,"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afiddlerontheroof.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}