Chimney sweep service for homes in Ventura
Soot and creosote out of your flue, the room left clean and the price in writing before we start.
- Licensed & insured
- Locally run
- Family owned and operated
- Same-day service available
Your chimney cleaning, itemized
- Free inspection of flue, damper and firebox
- Visual check of everything the brushes reached
- Metal chimney cap removed and reset per its maker
- Top-sealing damper gasket and cable checked
Sweeping details that matter for your fireplace
Taking off and resetting a metal chimney cap
On a factory-built chimney, the cap often has to come off before the flue can be brushed from the top. How it comes off depends on the system. One maker's instructions, for example, have the spark arrestor released by loosening its bolts and twisting it free, then reinstalled with every bolt fully engaged in its slot.
The steps are the ones written for the chimney on your roof. Our technicians keep the parts together, clean the screen while it is off and reset the cap so it sits square and locks the way the maker intended. Nothing is swapped for a part from another system, because the chimney was listed with its own parts.
If the cap is bent, rusted through or missing fasteners, our crew in Ventura tells you before putting it back and quotes the correct replacement separately.
Smoke at the opening with more than one cause
EPA guidance expects a well-installed, properly used wood-burning appliance to make little smoke, so smoke you see or smell again and again is a sign something is wrong. Heavy deposits are one possible cause, since they narrow the flue. They are not always the only one.
Under the Florida Building Code, the throat, damper and smoke chamber above a masonry firebox together form a passage that must be at least as large as the flue. A damper that does not open fully, a clogged cap screen or wet wood can each leave smoke rolling out of the front as well.
A sweep removes the deposits, and the damper and cap screen get tested on the same visit. If smoke still comes out afterward, the other causes are next, and our technicians note on the record what they checked and what still needs a look.
Raccoons, squirrels and other animals come out first
Raccoons, squirrels, birds and other animals get into uncapped flues, and some nest on the smoke shelf. A sweep does not start with an animal still inside. Brushing a flue with a live animal in it is unsafe for the animal and for the person on the rods.
Our technicians confirm the flue is empty before cleaning. If it is not, the job goes to our animal removal service first, which handles the removal and any exclusion. Nests, droppings and debris left behind are then cleared during the sweep.
An animal that got in once will try again, so the estimate for your Ventura home shows a cap or a screen repair if the flue is open. Keep the damper closed and the room shut until the animal is out, and do not light a fire to chase it out.
No cap on top of the flue
An open flue with no cap is exposed to everything that falls from above. Rain soaks the soot and runs down to the damper, leaves and twigs collect, and birds and animals have an easy way in. Sparks leaving the flue have nothing to stop them.
A sweep clears what an open flue has collected, and the debris can hint at how long it has been open. Wet, packed soot, rust on the damper and layers of old nesting material all tell part of that story.
During the sweep the flue is measured, so a correctly sized cap can be quoted on the same estimate for your Ventura home. On a factory-built chimney, the cap has to be the one listed for that system. The cap is separate work, and you decide whether to add it.
Other work in Ventura
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Related chimney sweep work
Questions we hear about chimney cleaning
Can you sweep a chimney that has birds or animals in it?
Not while they are inside. Chimney swifts are federally protected, so the sweep waits until they leave, and bats or other animals are handled by our animal removal service before any cleaning. Once the flue is clear, we sweep it and quote a cap to keep them out.
Will a sweep fix a fireplace that smokes?
It fixes the part caused by deposits in the flue. A damper that does not open fully, a clogged cap screen or wet wood can also cause smoke, so we check those too and note the results on the written record.
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