Its spring here in Seattle and what an amazing spring it has been! Blossoming flowers and fresh cut grass why would chimney maintenance be on your mind! Everyone is busy doing Spring cleaning and yard work. I am here to remind you that Spring time is also the best time of year for chimney maintenance. Its time to wrap up your wood-burning appliances for the year and start preparing for warm weather. Its a good idea to clean your chimney and fireplace thoroughly at the end of the season and close up the damper for a few reasons:
Chimney Maintenance Discounts
Yes, spring time for chimney sweeping is the slow time of year. Despite what this blog post suggests, chimney maintenance is not the highest priority for most people. Garden planting, mowing the lawn and window cleaning seems to get all the attention. This means chimney companies are slow and start offering chimney maintenance discounts.
Chimney Repair
Exterior chimney repair requires good weather. During 9 months out of the year, rain in Seattle is to be expected. That makes doing masonry repairs quite tough above the roof line of your home. The Spring and Summer have the right temperatures for mortar setting, and easy and reliable scheduling due to the consistency of the weather. Also, since chimney maintenance is slow compared to the fall and winter we are not so consumed by chimney sweeping and inspections. This makes discounts an easy offer to our non-procrastinating customers! Pristine Sweeps is currently offering 10% off all chimney repairs and a $40 discount on chimney sweeps.
Chimney Odors
You’ve been burning all year long, so your chimney is full of soot and creosote and you even may have not have cleaned the ashes out of your firebox or your ash dump. Those hot summer days are coming and we have been lucky enough this year to get some hot days already! Many customers of mine call during the summer time to report there are some unpleasant odors coming from the fireplace. Since the attic of your home is usually sweltering this time of year, there is a perpetual cycle of hot air escaping through the roof requiring replacement air to be pulled into other areas of the home. Usually, the interior of your chimney remains quite cool compared to the surrounding air outside. Since cold air falls as the warm air rises, this pulls the cool air into the home through your fireplace, and along with it, the unpleasant odor of old creosote and ash. A spring chimney sweep and inspection will ensure this odor causing soot and ash is removed from the interior of your chimney and your damper is shut tight!
By: Aaron Woodward