Doing it Right

A lot of fireplaces have internal dampers; there is a handle that comes down into the fireplace; you pull the handle towards you to open the damper, and you push it towards the back of the fireplace to close it.  When we sweep these chimneys, the creosote and debris ends up on the smoke shelf behind the damper.

For chimneys that lack rain caps/animal guards, there is usually an accumulation on the smoke shelf of various things, which can include leaves, twigs, bird carcasses and nests, milk cartons, chunks of plaster, rocks, pieces of steel: anything and everything that ever climbed, flew, fell or was dropped down the chimney...is still sitting there behind that damper.

When Bailey's Chimney C&R cleans a chimney with an internal damper, we do it right.  That means removing whatever is behind the damper on the smoke shelf.  To do this, we have two options:

1. Disassemble damper and scrape what is on the smoke shelf into a bucket, or
2. Reach up into the smoke shelf with the vacuum hose and vacuum everything out from behind the damper.

We usually choose option 2.  And that is what Marc Black, a certified sweep with Baileys' Santa Fe office, is doing in this photo:

Unfortunately, a lot of chimney sweeps don't take this step, which is actually the most important part of the job.

We at Bailey's, on the other hand, do it right.

--Justin

The Joy of Building a Fire

Building a fire to keep warm is a primal, instinctive bit of work.

There is some kindling to be chopped, some paper to be crumpled, some wood to be laid out, a match or a lighter light.    The photo above is the wood stove at my house taken immediately after I lit tonight's fire.  This appliance, a Pacific Energy Super 27 wood burning stove, is my primary source of heat in the winter.

Usually I build a fire once a day, in the evening time.  A few logs in the stove will burn for many hours.  In the morning there are still a few live embers in the firebox and the house is still nice and warm.  On a normal morning, I'll usually let the embers die out.  But when its cold, like around 15 below zero like we've had on a few recent mornings, I'll lay some new kindling, a couple logs and some paper over the embers and get the fire going again.

Building a fire in my wood stove keeps me feeling connected with an elemental part of life.  The work involved is a kind of meditation.  Its one of those actions that brings me to a place where it seems like the world as it is coincides with the world as it should be, if that makes sense.

Thanks, Prometheus.