by Billy Sweet | May 26, 2017 | Chimney Maintenance
Want work done on your chimney? You can plan ahead if you have kept up with routine maintenance appointments. After an inspection, you should have gotten a report of necessary repairs that are needed before burn season. Plan ahead, and obtain a work permit from your municipal authorities. There are many reasons to obtain this permit, and it’s not just for the city.
Save Money
You can save money by following the correct steps for building and repairs in your community. You can avoid fees, as well as repairs in the future if you don’t adhere to regulations and hire a properly certified and licensed professional.
Protect Your Investment
Whether you are a first-time homeowner, property manager, or business owner, your holdings are investments. Any property that you own is a value, and any changes that you make should improve the property, thus increasing the value. If you fail to adhere to municipal codes and safety regulations it can actually decrease the value of your property, sometimes substantially.
Increased Safety
Municipal permits mean reduced potential hazards caused by unsafe construction and maintain a standard for public health and safety. Following code guidelines actually protects your contractor as much as it does your family and the neighborhood. Some cities that require mandatory inspections actually save you money, protect your investment, and keeps your family and home safe. This system of checks and balances doesn’t exist when doing things “under the table,” so all parties gain added protection through the permitting process.
Be a Responsible Homeowner
Part of being a responsible member of your community and your family means abiding by laws–all laws. If you’re a resident of a city, this means abiding by city ordinances as well as state and federal laws.
Your Insurance May Require It
Even if you’re making valid and drastic improvements to your home, by failing to obtain a permit, you may nullify portions of your homeowner’s insurance policy. This is a risk you might want to consider heavily. Work done in the summer can look different in the winter when your home and your safety depends on your chimney system working properly. It’s important to choose a professional and obtain the correct permits to get the work done and get it done right.
Choosing Billy Sweet
When you choose Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep, you don’t merely get a general contractor or even certified chimney sweep. We are chimney experts, operating in New England since 1978, and maintaining certifications and memberships in the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), the National Fireplace Institute, National Chimney Sweep Guild, and Massachusetts Chimney Sweep Guild. We pride ourselves on our experience and our goal is to put customer safety and comfort first. This is why we keep up with the safety regulations of the cities that we serve as well as the brands we install and the chimney industry itself.
To find out how Billy Sweet Chimney Sweeps can serve you, call 617-469-4528 or request an appointment online today.
by Billy Sweet | May 12, 2017 | The Chimney and Your Health
Your chimney’s sole purpose is to vent your fire. This protects your family from toxic gases, harmful particulate pollution, and risk of deadly fire. The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) makes it a priority to educate homeowners about chimney safety. Industry professionals understand the importance of routine chimney maintenance. In addition, how vital it is to have professional certifications and training to do so.
Chimney Sweeping
It is important to hire a certified professional to service your chimney. A CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep has the training and expertise to clean, assess, and repair a damaged chimney. However, if you take it upon yourself to clean your own chimney, you might injure yourself without realizing it.
- Respiratory Hazards.
Soot and smoke inhalation can cause respiratory distress, illnesses, and infection can be a result of soot inhalation.
- Skin Irritation.
Physical contact with creosote can cause rash, other skin issues, and infection.
- Eye Damage.
Creosote exposure to the eyes can result in chemical burns that can leave your eyes damaged and lead to light sensitivity.
This is why it is best to leave the job up to a professional. Your chimney sweep is equipped with appropriate tools, masks, and necessary equipment. These tools keep the soot and creosote away while cleaning, inspecting, or repairing the chimney system!
Chronic Respiratory Illness
The best way to decrease the amount of particulate pollution in and around your home is to only burn properly seasoned wood. When you burn wood that is too green, or items that shouldn’t be burned (like trash or clothes) it burns incompletely. Consequently, this results in microscopic particles that you inhale – maybe even constantly! So, what is the best way to prevent excessive particulate pollution and smoke inhalation? It is to maintain your chimney system by scheduling regular sweeps and inspections, so that your chimney does it’s job efficiently.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Along with smoke inhalation and particulate pollution, a drop in efficiency can mean your family is slowly poisoned by carbon monoxide. Additionally, a smoky chimney also brings carbon monoxide with it, but there are other ways that it can be a health risk to your family. For instance, a crack in a flue liner can allow carbon monoxide to affect your family. Over time it can seem like a cold, but can damage organs and ultimately result in death. A faster case of carbon monoxide intrusion can seem like a swift flue, and cause unconsciousness and ultimately death. To prevent carbon monoxide intrusion in your home, make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector installed and check it monthly. This is the only way to prevent carbon monoxide exposure.
At Billy Sweet, we recommend our customers check carbon monoxide detectors often. Also, schedule service appointments annually – your safety depends on it. Schedule an appointment today to discuss how the health of your chimney can affect you!
by Billy Sweet | Apr 17, 2017 | Installation
When you invest in a fireplace to add value to your property, you want it to match your home and your tastes. The housing market is trending toward fireplaces now more than ever. Additionally, they aren’t just practical additions to any home, but beautiful as well. When you have a fireplace and hearth professionally installed you get the option to personalize it to fit your exact specifications.
Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep fireplace and chimney experts are not only certified chimney sweeps! We also specialize in masonry construction and repair. We can build a hearth and fireplace from scratch. In addition, remodel an existing one with bricks or stone in a variety of designs.
Installation and Repair
Only a certified chimney sweep can properly construct or repair a fireplace or chimney. Your family’s safety and comfort is too important to leave up to chance. Hire a professional to get the job done right the first time.
- A professional will choose correct materials.
Too often, we are called in to repair damage from an incorrect installation. Amateurs and cons often use regular bricks instead of fire bricks to construct the fireplace. They may do this to cut costs or because they simply don’t know any better. However, either way it leads to frequent damage, increased fire risk, and unsightly heat stains.
- A professional should be able to install any design.
Whether you want a square or arched fireplace opening, an experienced mason should be able to do it and do it well. Professionals who have the expertise required should be able to assist you in designing your dream fireplace and hearth.
- A professional should know safety codes and adhere to them.
Interior fireplaces should abide by safety codes. Firebricks are available and rated as low, medium, or high duty. Also, designs should be compliant for safe use in a fireplace.
Your Fireplace Design
The homeowner has more freedom to design the hearth and mantel than the firebox itself, but there are many patterns that comply with safety standards. Your chimney expert should not only be able to comply with safety standards, but should be experienced in the actual design and implementation of it. The firebox withstands the most abuse of any part of the chimney system, with the highest temperatures for the longest periods of time. If the fire box isn’t constructed properly, you may spend a small fortune in future repairs and damage.
Protecting Your Fireplace Design
Once you’ve settled on your dream fireplace and had it built, you want it to last. With adequate care and professional maintenance to your fireplace and chimney, your system should last the life of your home, but there are certain preventative measures to insure it does. At Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep we offer waterproofing services that protects your masonry from water damage. It’s water that does the most damage to the chimney’s masonry, and when water gets into your fireplace, it can mingle with the soot and ash there to deteriorate your masonry from the inside out.
Call Billy Sweet to discuss your firebrick design with a masonry expert today or request an appointment online.
by Billy Sweet | Apr 5, 2017 | Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
One of the hazards of using modern appliances, especially those that burn fuel, is the byproducts that they create. Part of the safety message of the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) warns against chimney neglect that can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Who Is At Risk?
Anyone who is exposed to carbon monoxide is at risk of serious health hazards and death, though children and elderly people are most adversely affected. Carbon monoxide is naturally released when fuel like wood or gas is burned. CO poisoning often occurs due to improper use of heat appliances, improper ventilation, and general neglect of heat systems.
Signs and Symptoms
Carbon monoxide poisoning is often overlooked because the symptoms are similar to those caused by the flu: headache, dizziness, irritability, confusion, nausea/vomiting, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. If exposure is prolonged the symptoms gradually worsen to include convulsions, seizures, coma, and death. These serious outcomes occur because carbon monoxide is a toxic gas that shuts down an individual’s organs. Depending on how serious the leak is the reaction of the body can be sudden or gradual.
Prevention is Key
The best way to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning is to properly maintain the fireplace and chimney system. Scheduling a regular chimney sweep and an annual chimney inspection is the first step to chimney safety. It’s at these vital appointments that a certified expert gets a look at the chimney system, can assess damage, and plan for repairs.
Chimney Problems that Lead to CO Intrusion:
- Damaged Chimney Liner.
The liner functions as a barrier, keeping harmful gases from escaping the porous masonry and allowing it into the home. A damaged liner means there is a chance carbon monoxide will penetrate the masonry and cause slow exposure to the family. This type of slow CO exposure causes illness and organ damage that is irreversible and often dismissed as the flu or common cold.
- A Smoky Chimney.
Either from an obstruction, or general inefficiencies, the chimney sometimes stops venting the fire’s byproducts as it should. When your fireplace is back-filling smoke into your home, it is sending carbon monoxide into your home as well. This can be prevented by keeping the chimney well-maintained, troubleshooting your draft problems, and using your damper properly.
- Improper Ventilation.
Gas appliances should be vented unless they are rated for indoor use without ventilation (unvented gas log sets, for example). Also, if the chimney flue is not the right size for the appliance, it won’t vent properly and the carbon monoxide will linger and eventually sink into the home with the rest of the unvented air from your fire.
Invest in Your Home, Invest in Your Health
Prevent your home and family from being exposed to carbon monoxide intrusion. Schedule routine maintenance that may save your family from serious health hazards and death. Purchase and install a carbon monoxide detector. Ask your chimney sweep which is the best brand to use and check it regularly once it’s installed.
Billy Sweet Chimney Sweep strives to keep all of our customers in Boston, North Shore, and Portland areas safe, warm, and happy year-round. This starts with preventing CO poisoning. For more information contact one of our chimney experts today.
by Billy Sweet | Mar 15, 2017 | Chimney Maintenance
When the weather turns warm and you only periodically burn a fire, you begin thinking about closing the fireplace or furnace down for the season. Spring can be stressful as you think about spring cleaning along with home, lawn, and auto maintenance, but you can’t overlook the chimney.
Have the Chimney Cleaned
A certified chimney sweep company will offer a thorough cleaning that includes the entire chimney system. Billy Sweet’s chimney sweeps can be scheduled year-round and include:
- Assessment of accessible portions of chimney’s interior and exterior
- Assessment of factory-build units for cracks
- Sweep your chimney with special brushes
- Check your chimney liner for cracks, gaps, and missing joints
- Scrub yours chimney’s smoke chamber, smoke shelf, and damper with hand tools
- Sweep the firebox and clear any ash
- Remove and brush the grate
- Check for any fire safety hazards
When your chimney is thoroughly cleaned of soot, creosote, and any leftover debris, you can rest assured knowing it won’t stink through the warm, humid days of summer. By having this sweep done in the spring you will also know it is ready when burn season returns in the fall.
Have the Chimney Inspected
As part of your chimney sweep appointment, you can also schedule a CSIA chimney inspection so that you are aware of major issues with your chimney. If your chimney is damaged it is susceptible to water damage as we enter the wettest months of the year—spring. Water is a nuisance through winter because of the freeze/thaw cycle that can damage your masonry. Water can also be a hazard through the warm months because it can cause mold which can affect the air quality in the house and cause respiratory illnesses.
Seal Off the Chimney
You can lose cool air up the chimney during the summer causing you to spend many times as much on utilities. The best way to prevent conditioned air loss via the chimney is to close the damper. The standard cast iron damper installed at the throat of the chimney doesn’t have a tight seal. Because of the money saved, many homeowners are opting for a top-sealing damper, also called an energy-saving damper. This damper is installed on the top of the chimney at the flue opening and acts as a chimney cap while open. When the damper is closed it has a rubber air-tight seal which closes the chimney off completely from the top. This doesn’t only save on utilities, but also prevents humidity and moisture in through the top of the chimney.
By scheduling routine maintenance now, you allow time to make necessary repairs before burning season. A chimney expert can get work done quickly, but if it’s put off until the “fall rush” it is hard to get an appointment. Avoid problems with your chimney this summer, and make sure it’s prepared for burn season by calling a chimney sweep today at 207-773-7933 or request an appointment online.
