Chimney Services Blog
4 Tips on Making Your Fireplace Burn More Efficiently
A fireplace is a great alternative heating system for your home and can improve your home's aesthetics, but it is not as efficient as a whole-home system like a furnace. However, there are a few things that you can do to improve a fireplace's efficiency. Read on as Batts' Chimney [...]
How to Get Bats Out of Your Chimney
Bats find shelter in dark and warm spaces where they feel secure and protected. Unfortunately, chimneys are among these spaces. However, letting them stay in your chimney can result in bat urine and droppings accumulating inside, leading to odors and contaminated runoff, and may even mean bats getting into your [...]
Firewood Storage: Do’s and Don’ts
The way you stack and store your firewood can either cause you problems or save you from them. This is especially true if you have a wood-burning stove or wood-burning fire pit. It's crucial to store your firewood properly. Incorrect firewood storage can lead to infestations, mold growth and other [...]
How to Tell if Your Chimney Needs Urgent Repair
Your chimney is built to withstand extreme temperatures from the cold weather and your fireplace. This kind of wear and tear takes a toll over time, causing your chimney to eventually need repair. Unfortunately, you cannot always see the damage from the ground. Sometimes, issues are difficult to detect, causing [...]
4 Ways to Remove a Bird’s Nest From Your Chimney
A bird's nest in your chimney is dangerous because it blocks the top of the flue and traps hazardous carbon monoxide and other harmful fumes from combustion. Moreover, birds and other animals can affect the airflow and the structure of your chimney, which can present more problems. (more…)
Common Dryer Mistakes Every Homeowner Should Avoid
Most homeowners regularly rely on their clothes dryer. Without proper maintenance, however, dryer vents can become clogged and cause over 15,000 residential fires each year in the United States alone. For this reason, it's important to use your dryer wisely and clean its vents regularly. Through proper dryer vent maintenance, [...]
How Often Does Your Chimney Need Cleaning?
The chimney is one of the many features that homeowners tend to overlook. After all, it's not particularly easy to check whether it needs sweeping. Your fireplace may look clean, but your chimney may not be. If you have a dirty chimney, harmful gases may linger in your home. In [...]
Should You Clean Your Chimney on Your Own?
If your chimney could use a good cleaning, you might think that doing it yourself is a cost-effective solution. Inspecting your chimney may be doable, such as checking to see if the chimney damper is open, but cleaning it is best left to a professional. Remember, your chimney is full [...]
Chimney Downdrafts: Signs, Causes and Fixes
Chimney downdrafts can cause your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to go off. In extreme cases, they can lead to severe health problems as they can contaminate the air you breathe. Fortunately, you can call a chimney contractor to help you figure out if you have downdraft problems and what [...]
What You Should Know About Chimney Fire
A chimney fire is dangerous and will leave you wondering when you can safely use your fireplace again. You're also probably thinking of expensive repairs that will create a dent in your budget. Don't worry because chimney fires are usually manageable. Just make sure to immediately call a reliable chimney [...]
Addressing Lint Buildup in Your Dryer Vent the Right Way
The clothes dryer is an essential part of our lives. It can be found in almost every household across the country as it has become part of the standard way of taking care of the laundry. But to ensure that the dryer keeps drying efficiently, you'll need to keep the [...]
Summer Cleaning and Maintenance Checklist for Your Chimney
With the summer season in full swing, it's the perfect time for chimney maintenance. Doing this during summer can ensure your chimney is clean, safe and ready by the time fall and winter weather sets in again. It's also better to do it sooner so that you won't have to [...]
Why Your Gas Fireplace Still Needs a Proper Chimney Cleaning
A traditional wood-burning fireplace requires regular cleaning to clear out the ash and carbon that have collected in the firebox and chimney. This can be tedious and costly at times, which is why many homeowners switch to gas fireplaces instead. But because they don't burn wood, do gas fireplaces still [...]
What’s the Difference Between Top-Sealing & Throat Dampers?
Throat dampers are pretty common and most homeowners – even those who don’t have a fireplace – are familiar with them. They are part of the fireplace, rather than the chimney, and work by keeping the chimney closed off at the bottom, keeping the house warm by shutting out the [...]
How Dryer Vent Cleaning Can Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality – if it’s not something that you think about often, you probably should. After all, it's an important but often overlooked factor to your family’s overall health. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to symptoms like headaches, difficulty in concentrating, fatigue, as well as irritation to [...]
What Is a Chimney Smoke Test and How Is It Done?
If you’re planning to reinstate a chimney that hasn’t been used in a while, or maybe you just purchased a house and would like to check how airtight the chimney is, you'll want to have a chimney smoke test done. In today’s article, your friendly team of chimney cleaning experts at Batts' [...]