Chimney sweep and fireplace cleaning in Avalon Park

The look we take after the brushes finish

Every sweep ends with a visual check of what the brushes reached. With the deposits gone, the surfaces can be seen as they are, and that is when cracks, gaps and rust become visible.

This check is not a formal chimney inspection. It covers the surfaces the cleaning exposed, from the angles the crew can see them. Parts hidden behind walls or past a bend stay outside it, and the written record says so.

If our technicians see something in your Avalon Park chimney that needs repair, they show you where it is and add it to the estimate as a separate item. Nothing found in that check is fixed or charged until you approve it.

• Flue walls and joints once the soot is gone
• Smoke chamber surface and smoke shelf
• Damper plate, frame and handle
• Firebox floor and walls

Clearing what falls onto the smoke shelf

Behind the damper, many masonry fireplaces have a flat or curved ledge called the smoke shelf. Anything that falls down the flue can land there, from soot and creosote flakes to leaves, nesting material and broken pieces of tile.

Because it sits out of sight, the smoke shelf can hold a surprising load. Debris left there can smell, can hold moisture and can partly block the path smoke takes into the flue.

The shelf is cleared after the flue is brushed, so it catches the brushing debris too. Our crew reaches over the damper, scoops the shelf clean and vacuums what is left. Whatever came off it is looked at before it is bagged, because a chunk of tile or a rusted piece of metal points to a problem higher up that deserves its own look.

Clearing ash, grate and debris from the firebox

The firebox is where the sweep starts and ends. Before any brushing, our technicians remove the grate, andirons and old ash, so the floor and walls can be seen and the debris from above has somewhere clean to land.

After the flue and smoke chamber are done, the firebox gets cleaned again. The walls are brushed down, the floor is scraped and vacuumed, and any ash dump door in the floor is opened and checked. The grate and andirons are brushed off outside, so their soot stays out of the room, and go back in place last.

With the firebox clean, the firebrick and the mortar joints between the bricks are easy to see. Cracked bricks or open joints are fireplace repair work, and our crew notes them on your written estimate instead of hiding them under a fresh cleaning.

Brushing a flue that bends or offsets

Not every flue runs straight. Masonry chimneys sometimes shift sideways to clear a roofline or a second fireplace, and factory-built chimneys use elbow sections to route around framing. The Florida Building Code limits how far a clay flue lining may slope from vertical, so masonry bends are gentle, but they are still bends.

A stiff rod and brush can skip across the outside of a bend and miss the inside corner. Our technicians use flexible rods for offsets and work the brush through the bend from both ends when both can be reached.

Offsets also hide things. Debris can lodge in the bend, and the visual check can see only so far past it. For a flue with an offset, the written record notes what could be seen and what could not.