Seasonal chimney, air duct and dryer vent guidance for Lockport and the southwest suburbs.
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. The little hood on the outside wall where your dryer exhausts is the part of the system nobody looks at, and it is where a surprising number of dryer problems actually start. Almost every…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. If your fireplace pushes smoke into the room with the damper fully open and a clean flue overhead, the problem is usually proportion rather than obstruction. A fireplace opening that is too large for…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. A carbon monoxide alarm is not a chimney inspection, but for most homes it is the only venting monitor in the building. When it chirps in a warning pattern or goes into full alarm,…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. Most homeowners describe their fireplace by how it looks, and brick facing can hide either of two completely different appliances. Knowing which one you own changes what can be repaired, what has to be…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. Late August is when firewood gets delivered and stacked, and it is also when the single biggest cause of creosote buildup gets set in motion. Wet wood is not just a slow starter. It…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. If smoke curls out over the fireplace opening instead of going up, the first thing most people blame is a dirty flue. Sometimes that is the answer. Often, though, the chimney simply is not…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. A homeowner calls a roofer about a ceiling stain near the fireplace. The roofer looks at the shingles, finds them in decent shape, and says the roof is fine. The stain comes back with…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. Summer is renovation season, and the projects that wrapped up in July and August are being enjoyed right now — new kitchen, refinished basement, floors replaced upstairs. What most homeowners do not connect is…
By Daniel Watkins, Noble Chimney Sweepers. Two dryer vents can sit in two houses on the same street and behave completely differently. The one that clogs first is almost always the longer one. Duct length is the single biggest variable…
Almost every masonry firebox develops cracks. That is normal — fire clay and refractory mortar expand when hot and contract when cold, and after a few hundred fires that movement shows up as lines in the panels and joints. What…
