While not all modern homes are built with chimneys, the structures are not extinct. Many people like them for their vintage appeal and they are necessary for homes with real fireplaces. Of course, any aspect of a home requires maintenance, so you can’t go without consulting a chimney cleaning business for very long. Every year you should bring in a chimney sweeper to improve airflow and prevent the following three hazards.

Respiratory Problems

While pulling flammable objects such as books, blankets, and furniture away from the fireplace is manageable, avoiding its soot is less so. Even with fireplace screens, the smoke and ash float through into your home. Over time, these substances can affect your health and damage the respiratory systems of children. Asthma, bronchitis, coronary heart disease, and lung cancer are all possible outcomes of prolonged exposure to chimney soot and smoke.

Fires

Creating a safe semicircle around your fireplace where flammable materials don’t permanently sit is not enough to ensure that your chimney does not cause a house fire. The substance creosote builds up in chimneys over time and is very flammable. Fires that begin in the chimney can reach to up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit before spreading into your home. Creosote does not build up in clean chimneys. Clean chimneys are achieved by thorough visits from a  chimney sweeper certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) at least once per year, according to the CSIA.

Home Contamination

Chimney cleaners are protecting your entire home with their services. Fires are not the only danger that can enter your living space as a result of a buildup of creosote and other substances in your chimney. Excessive buildup can result in reverse airflow that billows smoke, ash, and soot into your home regularly. It is beyond the capabilities of a fireplace screen to keep these substances out of the air your home. This makes it important to have a chimney cleaner regularly clean out your chimney so that you do not get a buildup of harmful substances.

Chimney sweepers are not overly expensive to contract. You may easily be able to bring them in multiple times a year for sweeping, especially after the winter season when you are more likely to use the fireplace and chimney more often. If you’re a chimney owner in Plano, TX, Max the Chimney Sweep is your best option!