Worry-Free Winter: Fireplace Safety Tips and Maintenance

Jamie: 00:00:00

Welcome to Thoughts from the Crawl Space, a podcast where our goal as home inspection experts is to support and serve our community.

Whether you're a homeowner, home buyer, real estate agent or investor, we believe everyone deserves solutions to their homeownership challenges and inspiration along the way. Your path to success starts here. Welcome back to another episode of Thoughts from the Crawl Space.

Today we're going to talk about fireplaces, all about them, what you need to know about them, how you need to get them checked out before winter to make sure they're safe. So before you light that first cozy fire or flip on the gas logs this winter, let's talk safety.

Whether it's wood burning or gas, your fireplace can be your home's heart or a hazard, depending on how it's maintained. Here's what I look for as a home inspector before the first spark flies, so to speak.

Obviously with gas you won't likely have a spark, but you get the point. So number one, the seasonal checkup and why it matters. Well, fireplaces are comfort features, but they're also active combustion systems.

Fire, fuel, exhaust. Every winter, inspectors and fire departments see issues that could have been prevented with a simple pre season check.

We've mentioned before about the need to get your furnace checked or your air conditioner before summer or your gutters cleaned or whatever. Well, it's just as important with your fireplace, if not more important, especially if it's wood burning.

So some common issues with fireplaces are blocked flues, cracked chimneys, gas leaks, bird nests or missing caps. All of those can have their own separate issue as to what the problems that it caused.

A cleaned, well maintained fireplace is safer, it's warmer and it's more efficient in heating. So I've seen everything from birds nests and skeletons in chimneys to melted gas lines behind fireboxes.

It's not always what you think is the problem. So let's start out today talking about wood burning fireplaces. So just kind of a checklist of what you need to look for.

Or more importantly, probably hire a professional to come look for so that you know what you're doing when you are trying to get it safe for the winter. Number one, the chimney and flue.

So you want to look for creosote buildup if you burn wood, especially if you burn the type of wood that's a little softer wood, not like a real good burning wood like cherry or such hardwood. But softer woods will create creosote buildup.

It's a black tar like residential residue that can ignite and you've heard the term chimney fire before, and that's why the flames spread. They follow the path of the creosote and burn it off from the inside of the chimney.

And then at the same time, it can burn through the chimney and spread to the rest of the house. So, number one, you're going to look for creosote buildup. The chimney should be cleaned at least once a year or every cord of wood being burned.

So obviously, the more you use it, the more you want to check it out. All right, so check for cracked flue tiles or missing mortar joints. Obviously, the only way you can do this is to get a camera inside the chimney.

One service that we offer is a chimney scan or a chimney scope. And we take a specialized camera set up and. And depending on access points, we put it up the chimney or we can drop it down the chimney.

But what we're doing is we're looking at the joints between the ceramic flues. Most ceramic flues are about 18 inches long, and they just sit right on top of one another, and they're connected with mortar.

And so if there's any cracking, you know, ceramics a great smooth product for, you know, inducing smoke and drafting, but it also is brittle, and things are shifting, expanding, contracting from the heat, from rain, from cold, whatnot. And so these can be defective over time.

And so a good chimney scope, just like a sewer line scope, is really what you need to ensure that these tiles are in good shape. So you want to get one of that done. Number two, chimney cap and crown. A proper cap keeps rain, animals, and debris out frequently.

We will see where someone has had to replace their damper. The damper is right there above the firebox.

And if you don't have a chimney cap over the years, the rain runs down there, sits on top of it, rusts it out.

So now we have to really, the only way to replace a chimney damper is either to totally reconstruct the whole thing or put one on top and run a cable down the flue with a spring on it, and that can open a flap up and down from up top. I saw one of those just the other day. But a cap keeps rain out, keeps animals out, and it keeps debris out.

Last October, I believe, I had a experience where I opened the damper and the skeleton of a squirrel fell out. And obviously he had got in there because there's no chimney cap. And then he couldn't get his way out. And so it's shocking to him.

I'm sure it was shocking to me when it fell out. So you want a good cap and then damaged crowns. This is probably the most overlooked thing on top of a chimney is the crown.

The crown is generally a concrete substance shaped. It should be shaped to shed water. And ideally it overhangs the edges of the chimney by at least an inch or two.

Now, you don't usually see it built like this. That's only with craftsmaster craftsmen who know what they're doing.

But this will shed the water and then it drips down without running down the sides of the chimney. So the crown, when it gets cracked, water can seep in the cracks, seeps through the brick or the, into the ceramic.

It freezes, it expands, it breaks everything. It pops the bricks front off. It's called spalling and just creates just deterioration little by little. That can have big money repairs down the road.

Number three, you want to check the damper. You want to make sure it opens and closes and seals properly. You want to make sure especially that it will open.

If you're going to, if you try to light a wood fireplace and the damper doesn't open, you're going to have smoke in the house immediately and you're going to know it. So make sure it opens and closes and just make sure that you don't have any problems with it going forward. Number four, hearth and firebox.

Look for cracks, gaps or missing mortar. This is the area where you can get to, this is where you put the logs. This is where you see the flames generally.

But the firebox, if it has bricks around it, or even if it has metal for that matter, you want to make sure it's in good shape. You don't want cracks in the bricks, you don't want cracks in the mortar, you don't want warped metal. And that's just an indication of a problem.

And your hearth, your hearth should be, it's the area in front of the firebox.

So even if you have a wood burning stove, you should have a minimum of 16 inches in front of that, that's non combustible, and 6 inches on each side of the firebox. All right, so if all you have is carpet right there, that's a hazard.

You need something non combustible, like ceramic tile or brick, something that won't burn. So that's number four. Number five, smoking carbon monoxide detectors. Always test before the season.

Install a carbon monoxide detector near the sleeping areas, especially if you use your fireplace regularly. And so if you're seeing smoke in the room instead of up the chimney, that's not Cool. That's a warning sign. All right.

Probably not drafting right or there's a blockage in the system somewhere. So it's a good idea to get it checked out before you're anticipating a fire or need one and start it and it doesn't draft well.

So wood burning fireplaces. More and more insurance companies look down on them.

They require special inspections and they got to meet certain standards before they will insure your house that has a wood burning fireplace or stove. Number three, gas fireplace. So here's a little checklist to look at as you're going through your gas fireplace before you start it up this year.

Number one, the venting system. For direct vent systems, make sure exterior terminations are clear of debris, pests, nests, pests and spider webs.

So they love those vents for some reason. Check for condensation or discoloration around the vent cap.

One thing I would look at as it goes through your attic, go up in the attic and look around it. Have there been any new leaks?

It is a roof penetration and I was just in my attic this weekend and what I see all kinds of signs of water staining around the vent. So we're either getting leaks of condensation out of the vent itself or it's coming in where it goes through the roof.

Either way, you want to get that repair number two, pilot and ignition test before the first cold day. Make sure the pilot stays lit and burns blue, not yellow or orange.

So one thing that we find is if gas fireplaces are not kept on all year, sometimes they have a hard time starting after several months off. You can get little webs in the thermocouple. The gas line can get kind of clogged up with junk and then things just don't burn like they should.

If it won't light or it keeps going out, have it serviced before use. If it's not operating like it should, you got a problem. So don't force it. Get it serviced before you use it. Number three, logs in the burner.

Ceramic logs should be arranged correctly. Improper placement can cause sooting or incomplete combustion. This is especially true in a gas log fireplace that designed to be non vented.

There are some that vent just into the house. You don't have a flue going up. They're engineered to burn cleanly, but they're also engineered to burn cleanly if the logs are placed properly.

And if you place them improperly, if they're on burners, they will impinge on the flame, creating a not as a clean burning flame, as much. It'll create more carbon monoxide, more carbon dioxide, more soot, and just create an unhealthy experience. Even if it's going up the chimney.

You want to maximize your flame. You want the best flame you can get. So you want to have clean burning in that way. Number four, glass and seals.

Clean the glass with the right cleaner, no ammonia please. And inspect for cracks or white residue, which is a sign of condensation or venting issues.

So if you have a lot of white buildup, that's not a good sign. Clean it ahead of time and just make sure it's in good shape.

One little tip is some of the older gas fireplaces had glass on them, but they didn't have a screen in front of the glass.

Whether it's a built in screen or just a standalone screen, we recommend installing that because glass on those gas fireplaces gets very hot and if child, a toddler walks up to it and touches it, it could burn their hands or whatever part of the body comes in contact with it. So get a screen installed, a freestanding one is better than nothing and just create a barrier to getting to the fireplace.

Then finally, again, carbon monoxide safety. If you have ventless or a vented gas log, you should have a carbon monoxide detector nearby, especially with a non vented unit.

Non vented units are not permitted in bedrooms and that's for a reason. If you fall asleep and it's on, it is producing a certain level of carbon monoxide that may not allow you to wake up.

And if you have a dirty, burning, ventless fireplace, it will create more than way more than it should and be an imminent problem. Gas fireplaces, in summary, are low maintenance. They're not no maintenance. So make sure you take care of them or it's not going to work well for you.

So here's some warning signs to look out for smoke spillage or odor when burning.

If you look at a wood burning fireplace, let's say you're buying a house and you look at a wood burning fireplace and you look above the firebox, at the mantle area, or just above the firebox and it's all smoky, a sign that probably doesn't draft very well.

Now, a home inspector is not going to be able to tell you if your wood burning fireplace is not going to draft well, because we're not going to start a fire for one thing. But it is a sign and something that you want to get checked out before you jump on in.

You can't just assume that every fireplace that was installed Was installed and built well and will automatically draft well. Also, white staining, which is efflorescence, are dark streaks on the chimney's exterior. This can come from inside out.

If it's efflorescence, that means water is going inside out through the brick. And why is that? Is water leaking down into it and then drying out through the brick or what's happening?

Do you have breaks, cracks in your crown, things like that? Rust or discoloration on gas components? That's another tip to look for. Gas components wear out just like anything else.

Especially if you don't have a cap and you're getting moisture all the way down into your chimney, It'll rust out everything. Another thing, whistling or hissing from gas lines. Well, this is almost assuredly a sign of a gas leak. Definitely don't want that.

So get that checked out as well. And then any cracked bricks or deteriorated mortar inside the firebox, not a good thing. Get it checked out.

A little crack today could be a chimney fire tomorrow. If you look up the chimney when it's cold and you see a crack, which is unlikely but possible if you have a wide open chimney and it's straight up.

But when that heats up, those cracks expand. We've went to the National Chimney Institute, which is in Plainfield, Indiana, and we've seen these demonstrated where a crack is hairline.

They heat that sucker up, it gets really hot and the whole thing expands. And now you got flames spreading through those cracks. So it pays to be safe. It pays to get these things inspected.

And finally, so from some professional advice, call a chimney sweep, especially if it's wood burning. Call them every year, even if you don't use it much. If you can't see in there, you're just getting guessing is if there's a problem or not.

So call them every year, get it cleaned, get it examined, make sure it's safe before you proceed. If it's a gas one, have a certified tech check connections pilot and the venting they can also clean can be in certain H Vac companies do this.

And if they don't, you can find a fireplace installation company that specializes in this kind of work. And then flue inspection, we always Recommend A level 2 video inspection for older homes.

If you've had a chimney fire or liner damage before, we would recommend it even if you don't have liner damage. So some efficiency tips. Burn only seasoned hardwood.

You're going to have less creosote, it's going to burn much cleaner and you're going to have A more enjoyable experience. Don't use wet wood that causes excessive smoke or creosote. Use a fireplace grate.

What that does is gets the wood up off the ground and allows better airflow and better flames. Close the damper when not in use. When the fireplace is off, close the damper. It keeps cold air from coming in as much.

And then as we mentioned previously, consider adding glass doors or and or screens in front of gas or a wood burning fireplace. So one thing also I want to note on gas fireplaces is something called a damper clamp.

You have a damper and we see this defect most commonly in homes where the original fireplace and box was designed as wood burning. Now somebody has converted it to gas.

And we mentioned that when you start a wood burning fireplace and it doesn't have the damper open, you're going to note it immediately because of the smoke pouring out of it, right? Well, if you start a gas fireplace with the damper shut, you're not necessarily going to notice anything.

But what you will have is carbon monoxide coming back in the house and that can be a safety issue. So what these fire folks recommend is something called a damper clamp. It's a little C shaped clamp that goes right on the damper.

It will not allow the damper to close completely.

Now this will allow a little bit of cold air in the winter down, but it also ensures that no matter what, if some child starts the fireplace and forgets to open the damper, at least it's open a little bit and it will allow the carbon monoxide and exhaust to get out instead of come in the home. So highly recommend you look for a damper clamp before you start up your gas fireplace. So you know, fireplaces are like the smile of a home.

They warm the space, they bring people together, the ambiance is awesome. But like anything that burns fuel, they need a little respect and maintenance.

A quick check before winter can help keep your holiday safe and your heating bills a little lower. So until next time, thanks for watching and listening and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you for listening.

This week you can catch up on the latest episode of the Thoughts from the Crawl Space podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. For more information about Gold Key Inspection services, go to goldkeyinspect.com.