Your family-owned chimney company in Lake Avalon

Lake Avalon is an area of Orange County designated a Rural Settlement in the county's land use plan, and a fireplace there that is used for real warmth on cool nights works harder than one lit for the look of a fire. A fireplace used regularly for heat needs more attention than one lit twice a year, and the wood you burn has a lot to do with how much.

Dry, seasoned wood burns hotter and cleaner. The EPA's Burn Wise program recommends wood that has been split, stacked off the ground and dried, and it notes that wet wood produces more smoke and leaves more deposits in the chimney. Those deposits are creosote, and creosote is what makes a chimney fire possible. Freshly cut wood, treated lumber, painted scraps and trash have no place in a fireplace.

How often to sweep depends on how much you burn. NFPA 211 sets one inspection a year, with cleaning as needed, and for a fireplace used through the cool season that inspection is the time to judge whether one sweep is enough. If you notice a heavier smell, dark stains at the top of the chimney or flakes falling into the firebox, it is time for a look even if the season is only half over.

The firebox, damper and hearth take more wear with regular use too. Cracked firebrick, a warped damper or a hearth extension that is too small for the embers a working fire throws are all worth checking. Keep a metal container for ashes with a lid, stored outside and away from anything that burns. We are a local, family-owned company, and our inspection in Lake Avalon costs nothing.

Sweeps and repairs are quoted in writing before we start, you take 10% off a sweep or repair booked within 72 hours after the inspection, and our pros stand behind their work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.