by Cliff | Sep 3, 2020 | Chimney cleaning and inspections, Woodstove Repairs
When the EPA started to crack down on wood stove emissions, the early technology utilized catalytic converters to help clean up the emissions from the stove. Over time these converters can become brittle. Sometimes it gets as bad as when the chimney sweep pulls it out...
by Cliff | Aug 3, 2018 | Chimney cleaning and inspections, Removing non- EPA certified wood-stoves, Woodstove insert (into a fireplace) installation
Chimney sweeps in Portland Oregon are having to deal less and less with un-lined woodstove inserts. Back in the ancient days wood stove inserts ( a wood stove that has been set into an open fireplace ) were not installed with a stainless steel liner being...
by Cliff | Jul 30, 2018 | Chimney cleaning and inspections
A chimney sweep’s brush vs chimney sweeping logs. Do these logs really clean the chimney? I have been cleaning chimneys for 30 years now, and I get this question asked of me several times each year. I cannot speak for the cleaning logs because I have not...
by admin | Jul 26, 2018 | Chimney cleaning and inspections
Fireplace opening sealed off with plastic sheeting to prevent creosote from coming into the living room while sweeping the chimney. Creosote build-up on a chimney rain cap. The lid of the chimney cap has been removed. Chimney cleaning in the Portland metro area occurs...
by Cliff | Jul 25, 2018 | Brick and stone chimney repair, Chimney cleaning and inspections, Chimney rain caps/spark arrestors
A fireplace damper repair can be easily achieved by installing a top-closing damper to take the place of a missing or existing defective damper. With a few simple tools and some very basic masonry skill and knowledge, you can remove your defective damper and install a...
by Cliff | Aug 7, 2016 | Chimney cleaning and inspections, Home fire safety for you and your family
We recently encountered a chimney that had been occupied by a raccoon for some time. We were unable to clean this chimney because of the chance that the raccoon had left droppings in this chimney. These droppings can contain a particularly unpleasant parasitic...
