Chimney Sweep

Homeowners often overlook the need for a chimney sweep and let their chimney do all the work on its own. Cleaning your chimney is just as important as deep cleaning other areas of your home because smoke and soot can get trapped inside them. When your chimney is clogged or struggling to function, smoke can get back inside your home making it hard to breathe. Sierra Vista Maintenance has an advanced process to help improve the function of your chimney. Whether you have a traditional fireplace or a more modern chimney, we bring all of our knowledge to protect your home.

Protect Your Home From Damage

The goal of chimney cleaning is to protect the chimney itself and other surrounding areas of your home from damage. Professionals recommend that your chimney be swept at least twice a year. This proper cleaning helps your heating system work properly through the season. 

Hiring a chimney sweep will help eliminate problems like odors, replace non working parts, and prevent critters from living in them. Cleaning chimneys lowers the risk of fires in your home. Unclean chimneys are the leading cause of fires in residential spaces so hiring our professionals will give you peace of mind about heating your home.

Our Chimney Sweep Process

When you hire our team as your chimney sweep, you will get a clean and efficient experience. Our team starts by putting down a protective tarp to protect your flooring from soot and ash that may come out during the cleaning process. 

Our technicians will then tape off the opening of the chimney to prevent debris from coming out of the chimney during the cleaning process. While we clean, the chimney will be brushed to remove excess build-up. 

We then clean the fireplace opening and vacuum up any debris that may be causing issues. Before we complete any job, we do a final check to ensure that we have done our job correctly. Sierra Vista Maintenance wants our skills to be reflected in each project we complete. Our chimney sweeps want your home to stay safe and properly heated.

Different Parts of Your Chimney

There are multiple components of your fireplace, chimney, and heating system. 

Bricks and Chimney Base: The base of your chimney needs to be structurally sound or else you are running a safety risk. If bricks or the base is damaged, you can experience moisture in your home or broken pieces of brick in your home. Chimney sweeps can help detect potential mold growth and potential breaking points.

Chimney Flue: The flue is often confused with the chimney liner, but the flue is the part that helps combustion materials to exit your home. 

Chimney Liner: The liner is required by law to be in your home, in order to keep the fire contained. The liner needs to fit the appliance or you run the risk of indoor pollution. Liners need to be replaced as soon as they crack and avoid using your fireplace until it is replaced.

Chimney Cap: A chimney cap helps prevent the outside elements from getting into your home. The cap stops snow, rain, leaves, and even animals from getting inside your chimney. 

Chimney Chase Covers: A chase cover comes on top of a factory-built chimney. It can be made from copper, aluminum, stainless steel, or galvanized steel. 

Chimney Flashing: A flashing will be made of vinyl, aluminum, copper, or steel and is attached where the chimney meets your roof. This prevents moisture leaks around your chimney. 

Chimney Crown: Usually a slab of cement that prevents water from entering the chimney.

Damper or Throat Damper: Also called the throat damper because it is located in the throat of the chimney above the firebox, the damper helps seal the heat in your home when the fireplace is not in use. When the fireplace is in use, the damper is open so the smoke can escape. If your damper is stuck in the open position, you may experience drafts. 

Smoke Chamber: Located between the flue and the damper, the smoke chamber compresses the combustible products so they actually exit the chimney rather than go back into your home. 

If you need a chimney sweep in the Sacramento area, contact our cleaning professionals to get an estimate.