Benefits of a clean chimney

Benefits of a clean chimney

Creosote is deposited in your fireplace when it is being used. Creosote will build up in the liner of the chimney and can produce a sour odor that can be smelled in your home.

Water can enter the chimney throughout the winter months. Ice, snow, and rain create moisture that can cause corrosion in the liner of the chimney, which leads to damage. A spring-cleaning can identify any damages.

Cleaning the chimney can save the costly homeowner repairs later. Many homeowners don’t clean their chimney until fall months. If there is major damage to the chimney, then the homeowner will have to wait to use the fireplace until the repairs have been made.
Spring is an excellent time to deep clean your home. It will remove dust, dirt, and debris from your home, leaving your home clean and healthy. This will allow a professional chimney sweep to identify any damages.

After you get your chimney cleaned, make sure to get it capped. Chimney caps keep out decaying moisture and any critters wanting to take up residence in the chimney.

One of the creatures that will try to harbor in your chimney is the chimney swift.

What are Chimney Swifts?

If you didn’t know it, the most common migrating birds in the Eastern United States are Chimney Swifts. These birds are unique little creatures. Many people mistake them as bats because they fly rapidly and reside in chimneys. However, when you look up close to them, they are most definitely very different.

For instance, their body is about five inches long with a wingspan of about a foot. Their wings have a unique shape, and they look almost like crescent moons. However, unlike other birds, Chimney Swifts are not able to perch horizontally, so sitting a tree would prove to be quite hard. If they do end up landing on the ground or another flat surface, it is difficult for them to get into the air again.

With their inability to perch horizontally and landing on the ground, setting up their nests in your chimney is the perfect solution. Rough vertical surfaces provide the resting places for these birds and a place to build their nests.

Chimney Swift nests are built onto the chimney walls by using their sticky saliva and little sticks and twigs they gathered in flight. These birds live off of all types of insects which they catch while in flight. During the summer months they migrate to the North, and when the weather turns chilly, the birds head to South America to avoid the cold.