Fire Safety Tips to Keep Your Home Safe

Kitchen fires are the second most common cause of fires after electrical issues. And it is vital to keep in mind that kitchen fires often happen when no one is active in the kitchen, but something is cooking. So having a smoke detector close enough to the kitchen to alert of a fire, but not too close that it goes off every time you make eggs in the morning. Please do not remove the battery from a detector because it goes off as you cook; move it permanently to a more effective position to keep your family safe.

Chimney Cleaning

It is said that there are more than 25,000 chimney fires each year, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, house fires, and death.

So, what causes chimney fires? The answer is typically neglect or forgetfulness. Failing to have the chimney inspected by a certified sweep routinely, cleaned, and repaired, if necessary, can result in tragedy.  Mortar cracks in the chimney concrete are also a high risk for fire.

As fireplaces burn, the smoke leaves creosote on the chimney’s walls. As this builds up, it can easily catch fire, and when it does, the fire climbs and superheat can severely damage the structure of the chimney and can spread very quickly.

This is the reason chimneys need to be regularly cleaned. Creosote starts innocent-looking, something like ground coffee. But as it collects more smoke residue with more and more heat, it transforms into sticky chips. After more time, heat, and smoke exposure, it becomes a dark brown and tar-like or thick wax which is highly flammable. And you guessed it, the latter stages are much more difficult to remove, and it costs more to do so. Keeping up with basic cleaning will save you money and make your home significantly safer.

How to Decrease Premature Creosote Build-Up:

It’s nearly impossible to have fires in your fireplace and not have some degree of creosote build-up, but there are ways to decrease how quickly it happens.

1. Burn well-seasoned hardwoods. Hardwoods burn cleaner and hotter. The moisture level in your firewood should be below 20%.
2. Keep your flu fully open wide when you have a fire burning. As smoke cools going up the chimney, it loses momentum from the heat, cools, and is more likely to begin to lay on the interior of the chimney.
3. Schedule yearly chimney inspections and cleanings. Avoiding the later stages of creosote build-up will save you many headaches, not to mention substantially reducing the danger of a chimney or house fire.
4. If you are a DIYer and want to tackle the project yourself and your chimney isn’t challenging to get to, we recommend you do the project whenever your chimney walls have collected no more than a 1/8-inch layer of creosote.
5. You will need a chimney brush with an extension rod greater than your chimney length. It’s a messy job (think Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). It would help if you were thorough through the entire length of the passage. You will also need to thoroughly clean the flu assembly to remove all build-up.
6. We still highly suggest you have your chimney inspected by a professional to ensure it is not hiding issues that could result in more considerable challenges down the road.
   

If you have questions about these processes or need additional tools to make the projects a reality, visit one of our three conveniently located stores in Madison, Charlottesville, or Crozet. We carry fire brick, high-heat mortar, and concrete specifically made for chimneys. Chimney caps and brushes are available at our Madison location.