A Smoky Living Space Is Less Than Ideal, but We Have Solutions

Our Solutions for a Smoky Space

• Sweep Your Chimney: Sometimes the only problem is that there’s too much buildup inside the flue. In these cases, we can help you out with a thorough sweeping. This will clear your chimney’s pathway, help with airflow, and it will reduce the risk of experiencing a chimney fire too.
• Adjust Chimney Height: Adding some height to your chimney can assist significantly with draft and airflow. More distance results in a stronger draft, which will help encourage smoke up and out the chimney where it belongs.
• Install a Top-Sealing Damper: Top-sealing dampers help to keep your flue warmer, so your hot smoke won’t have to combat freezing air to work its way out of your firebox.
• Install a New Liner: Having the right size liner is imperative for proper fireplace functioning, and if things aren’t just right, it could cause smoke to circle back into your living space.
• Perform an Inspection: Whatever the issue is, we need to get to the bottom of it. If you’re not sure what the cause of your smoky fireplace is, book an inspection right away, so we can check things over.

In the Meantime…

Anything that can be done in the meantime, while waiting on care from a professional? There are a few things we suggest for homeowners.

• Warm the flue. Rolling up a newspaper, lighting it, then holding it up inside the flue for a bit can warm up a cold chimney and cause the airflow to reverse. That way the warm smoke doesn’t hit a cold wall, then circle back.
• Check your damper. You’ve probably got this covered already, but it’s worth asking… Did you forget to open your damper? If so, you’ve got yourself an easy fix for helping with airflow.
• Open a window. If your home is too tight, air could be escaping faster than makeup air can come in. This results in smoke reversing in your flue and entering your living space. Cracking a window offers a quick, temporary fix.
• Burn the right wood. By burning only properly-seasoned firewood, you guarantee less smoke all around. When wet wood is lit, your fire has to burn through a whole lot of moisture before flames really get going – which results in much more smoke.