
Altoona, IA Iowa 50009
When you need your chimney swept, we are available and prepared to help! We offer a wide range of chimney services including sweeping, maintenance, and repairs. Just give us a call and we can assist with your chimney needs!
Customer satisfaction is our main priority. We happily offer great response times and top quality services for all our chimney sweeping customers.
A chimney sweep will do a detailed chimney cleaning to remove any deposits, soot, creosote, and blockages from the chimney. Filthy, damaged deteriorating, and obstructed chimneys cause injuries and fires every year. If you use you fire place or wood burning stove, the National Fire Protection Association recommends having your chimney inspected as well as swept every year in order to protect against fires.
A chimney service expert will do a complete cleaning of your chimney. Cleaning logs are actually ineffective and are not recommended. They will not remove all the soot and creosote accumulation out of the chimney like hand cleaning.
To start, a cleaning service technician will protect the inside of your house by spreading out tarps over the area, flooring, and fireplace. They will cover the fire place with plastic sheets, inserting an industrial vacuum cleaner pipe right into the fireplace, and will after that tape and also seal the fire place. They'll attach extension pipes and run them to the industrial vacuum cleaner with a fine micron filter which rests outside. This will trap the fine soot, creosote, and other dust later.
Next off, they will brush the whole chimney with hand held brushes, as well as brushes with extension poles. Typically they will begin on top of the smokeshaft and work downward, very carefully cleaning all the surfaces. Your chimney sweep will clean the flue, the damper, the smoke chamber, the smoke shelf, and the firebox.
They will then peel back a small area of the vinyl sheeting and use a variety of brushes inside. Following this, everything will be vacuumed and also cleaned. The plastic sheet and tarps will be relocated outside, cleared off and tucked back into their vehicle.
Our professional chimney experts supply a full range of services including sweeping. We provide quick and trustworthy service.
Creosote is a brownish, oily, tar-like compound which forms from burning wood or coal. It starts as a loose, feathery accumulation which in the beginning can be brushed away easily. As it accumulates more, it comes to be tar-like, and is harder to get rid of, occasionally needing the use of scrapers to remove it. If left uncleaned, and more layers develop, the creosote solidifies.
When a fire is burned in the fire place or wood stove, the smoke becomes very hot. Solidified creosote can begin to drip and melt like wax. As soon as the build up of creosote is really heavy, it restricts the airflow through the chimney flue. The restricted air flow causes creosote to build up even faster.
Creosote is unsafe in a number of various ways. It's toxic and unsafe for your health, and it puts your residence at risk of fires.
Creosote build up creates lessened air movement and this can allow carbon monoxide to build up inside your residence while a fire is burning. Carbon monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas which can cause flu-like symptoms, and can also bring about death.
Besides the carbon monoxide gas accumulation, creosote itself is poisonous. It can trigger irritated skin and eyes, respiratory system problems, and is carcinogenic (cancer triggering).
The most dangerous thing about creosote is that it is extremely combustible. It's the most usual cause of chimney fires. While chimneys are made to stand up to a high level of heat, the intensity of a chimney fire can quickly exceed this degree.
Getting a chimney sweep carried out is the very best and most reliable means to remove creosote. Our licensed chimney service companies take fantastic care of your chimney and also your residence. We recommend that you get your chimney cleaned and inspected at least yearly in order to protect against fires and toxic build up.
Exactly how frequently a chimney must be cleaned depends of how often you use it as well as what materials you burn within. Gas burning fireplaces should be examined on a yearly basis. Although they burn cleaner, dampness, debris, cracks and various other concerns can develop which can allow carbon monoxide gas to enter the house.
Oil burning flues need to be cleaned once a year to prevent residue from building up.
Since wood burning fireplaces and stoves create more residue and creosote, they should be swept much more regularly. A great rule of thumb is to have your chimney swept after a cord of wood has been burned inside.