Questions about your chimney? Call our receptionist, Kari, at 320.414.0191. She picks up weekdays, 9 to 5.
A lot of people call us in the summer because the fireplace smells like an old campfire on hot, humid days, even though nobody has burned anything since spring. Most of the time the flue has a heavy glaze in it, and on those hot humid days the air is heavier and denser, so there's a small backdraft that pulls that smell down the flue and into the house.
Where the glaze comes from
Glaze is creosote that melted and hardened into a glass-like coating on the inside of the flue. It comes from burning wet wood, from closing the damper down too far to slow the fire, or from years of both, because the gases cool off too much on the way up and leave everything they're carrying on the flue walls.
How it comes out
A regular brush won't touch glaze. It has to be broken down with a chemical treatment and then removed, and we check the liner behind it when it's gone, since that kind of buildup is also what burns in a chimney fire. Dry wood and an open damper keep it from coming back.
If any of this sounds like your chimney, call 320.414.0191. We'll come out, climb up, take pictures of what we find and show you before we quote anything.
Related: What our chimney inspection covers · What goes into the price of a sweep