Old Smokey's Fireplace & Chimney's Blog

Trust Us for Your Annual Chimney Inspection!

It is critical to your family’s safety that your regularly used chimney is operating well. Even if your chimney is only occasionally used, you should still have it periodically inspected by a professional. This is because dirty chimneys are a potential fire hazard. In fact, The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) states that the leading contributor to home heating fires is having a chimney that isn’t clean.  However, this shouldn’t deter you from enjoying your fireplace this winter. We here at Old Smokey’s want to let you know that, with a little help and guidance from our professional chimney technicians, your chimney will be perfectly safe to operate this winter.

Why are inspections important?

Getting your chimney inspected by one of our chimney technicians is one of the most important things you can do for its health. This is because an inspection allows us to determine if there are any issues that may have risen over the past year that would affect how your chimney operates. During an inspection one of our highly skilled chimney technicians will look for any damage to the your chimney and fireplace masonry, such as cracked brick or crumbling mortar. We will also inspect the inside of your chimney to make sure that it isn’t clogged with any debris, animal nests, or creosote. Lastly, we will inspect any other chimney components (chimney crown, chimney cap, damper, etc.) and make sure they are in safe, operational condition.

Have your chimney inspected by a CSIA certified technician

When you get your chimney inspected, you want to make sure that your inspection is going to be done thoroughly and safely. That’s why it’s critical that you have your chimney inspected by a Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) certified chimney technician.  To gain CSIA certification, a chimney technician must go through a tough training schedule, learning the latest chimney inspection and chimney maintenance techniques. Next, chimney technicians must learn about the latest in chimney fireplace and safety. Technicians are then allowed to be certified after they pass an exam related to their training and take an oath to perform their work ethically, never taking shortcuts or scamming their customers. At Old Smokey’s, we take CSIA certification very seriously. All of our chimney technicians are required to have CSIA certification to work for us. We want to make sure our customers are satisfied with our work and we want to assure them that we will keep their home and family free from hazards. That’s why being certified is important to us, because it is important to our customers.

If you haven’t had your chimney inspected in a while, you may be putting your home at risk. We still have appointment slots open, so call us at 800-876-6539 or 260-424-0009 or reach us online to set up an inspection with one of our chimney technicians. We look forward to serving you!

Hassle Free Chimney Services (appointment tips)

Scheduling a time to have your chimney inspected or repaired is  nerve racking. First, you need to figure out a time of day when both you and your chimney sweep are available, and then you need to make sure your home & fireplace is ready when your chimney sweep arrives. However, at Old Smokey’s, we can ease the frustration that goes along with making a chimney service appointment by giving you a few tips.

Setting a Time

If you need to schedule chimney maintenance or repairs, the best time to schedule an appointment is in late spring, summer, and early fall. This is because these times of the year are by far the slowest for a chimney sweep, meaning you will most likely get your desired time for an appointment. During the fall as the weather gets colder, people start to fire up their fireplaces and chimneys. This means that our schedule starts to fill up quickly, and we might not be able to work you into our schedule.

Getting Ready for the Appointment

First, we ask that you remove any fragile or breakable items from the fireplace mantle and surrounding areas. We also ask you to remove all valuables far from the fireplace. Although we try hard to be cautious when moving around your fireplace, it makes our jobs a lot easier if we bring our equipment in and set up without fear of harming your belongings.

Generally, we like to have about 6 feet to work around your fireplace. This gives us plenty of room to set our tools out and lay down the protective clothes that we set out to keep your floor clean. Second, any wood or coal appliance needs to have cooled for at least 24 hours prior to our arrival time. If your fireplace is still hot when we get there, we will not be able to work and you will need to reschedule.

When we work on your chimney, feel free to watch us work and ask questions if would you like. We would be happy to help you understand how your chimney works and what we are doing to make it operate more smoothly.

Who Should I Call?

You should always use a chimney sweep that is certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA). A CSIA certified chimney sweep has been through safety and chimney maintenance and repair training courses, and they have been periodically tested on safety and chimney maintenance techniques. A CSIA certification signifies that a chimney sweep has put in the time and effort to be the best chimney sweep they can be, especially when it relates to your safety. At Old Smokey’s, we require all of our chimney sweeps to remain CSIA certified at all times.

We make scheduling easy! Simply call Old Smokey’s at 260-424-0009 or make an appointment online.