I was told that we had a chimney fire here in our neighborhood does anyone know about it? I have never had a fireplace before and I am now concerned about our chimney. Would someone please inform me on the maintance of these. We don't burn our fireplace every night we use it I would say on the average of about once a week. We mostly use those duraflame logs. Last year we used one of those logs you get that is suppose to clean out the chimney. How often are you suppose to have a company come out and clean them and does anyone know of a good company and what is the average price that they charge? I am full of questions but I am so scared of fires and now this just adds to my fear. I love the warm glow of the fire but I am not so sure if it is going to be worth it if they are easy to cause fires. I hope there is someone who can help me out and explain this to me. Thanks to whomever can enlighten me.

Chimney fire

The biggest thing you need to do is use hard wood if you are burning wood. The next thing would be to make sure your wood is seasoned. By using wood that is not seasoned or a soft wood will cause creasolt to build up on the lining of your flew.
You can look up Chimney Sweeps in the phone book and get prices from them. I would not recommend trying this yourself. You don`t want to break any seals in the lining of your flew.
I hope this helps.

John

By John

Chimney

The best answers will come from a professional, but I will share some information with you. I had the fire last night, sorry to keep everyone up so late. I burn more wood than most. I had the chimney swept last year prior to winter and in retrospect, should have had it done this year before winter. I typically burn wood for between 6-10 hours a day. I probably average 4-5 days a week. My unqualified opinion is that you should probably have your chimney swept if you have burned in your fireplace for two years or more. The cost is around $119. Indy Chimney does a good job. He will then tell you his opinion on how often to get it done in the future, based on the current condition. Don't loose too much sleep over the fact that I had a problem. My burning habits are far greater that the typical user.

Hope this helps. If you have other questions, come talk to me. I live in the house with the beat up chimney.

Glad you are ok.

It seems everyone is ok and there were no injuries. I'm glad it wasn't a big house fire. We were worried about the family that lived in the house since we cannot see your house directly, we were not sure what exactly was on fire.

Very happy to know everyone is safe!!