Your chimney system is under a considerable amount of strain and stress, inside and out. There’s the high heat and damaging byproducts that come from your appliance on the inside, and the regular attacks of weather and water on the exterior. Even an impeccably designed and constructed system would struggle under that kind of maintained barrage.

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That’s why annual, professional chimney inspections are recommended by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a non-profit organization that was founded to minimize the risk of fire in homes and businesses. Part of your chimney’s role is to protect your home — and more specifically, the combustible building materials that make it up — from the fire in your heating appliance and the high temperatures created by that fire. If something is diminishing the system’s ability to perform that role — cracks in the firebox, a poorly-constructed smoke chamber — you’ll certainly want to be aware of it, and to do what you can to remove that problem. 

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Avoiding fire hazards isn’t the only reason chimney inspections are important though. Maintaining (and ideally, improving) the system’s performance is a key goal here, too. Many different issues can contribute to a diminished draft and poor chimney performance, from excess creosote buildup to a damaged damper or an improperly-sized flue liner. At the same time, lots of common kinds of chimney damage can lead to fire hazards and performance issues – for example, a cracked flue liner is both impeding your chimney’s draft and its ability to protect the combustible building materials in your walls from heat.

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This is where Mountain Home Chimney and Flame and your annual chimney inspection comes in. During an inspection, our techs can find any issues that may be hiding in your system and recommend smart solutions to those problems.