I've Been Burning My Fireplace For 15 years and I Haven't Had a Problem

Can I tell you a story?

The story I am about to tell you happened many years ago. My name is Jeff and I bought Top Hat Chimney Sweeps from a great guy whom I am still friends with, almost 40 years ago.

For the first several years of our (my wife and I) ownership of Top Hat Chimney Sweeps, we almost starved to death because of the lack of business. People didn't know anything about chimney sweeping besides what they knew from the movie Mary Poppins.

After a few years in business and getting certified by the Wood Heat Alliance (They are no longer around), I was visiting my mom and dad in South Carolina and my dad pulled me off to the side and said "Son, you have a degree from Auburn University. Why don't you use it and make something of your life." Well, I was devastated.

I must say, that although my feelings were hurt. Don't ever tell me I can't do something or be successful at it. I decided to keep his words out of my mind.

The following year, we were visiting for Christmas. The business was doing much better. I decided to take it on my own and just look behind his wood burning insert. It was scary! Of course, not many people know what glazed creosote is or what it can do. I was even one of those people before I became a chimney sweep. I told my dad that he needed to have his chimney repaired. That's when he said " I've been burning my fireplace for 15 years and haven't had a problem. It's just fine. I'm not worried about it. It is a brick chimney."  I did convince him to get a smoke detector. After a great visit with mom and dad, we return to Opelika.

Two weeks later, I got a call from my dad. He said "son I owe you an apology. The chimney caused our house to catch fire last night. You were right."

He said that he and mom were okay and that the fire department, on the second visit to the house, was able to extinguish the wall next to the fireplace that had caught fire. The first trip from the fire department was to extinguish the chimney fire. Several hours after the chimney fire he felt the wall next to the fireplace and it was getting hotter and hotter. He had to call the fire department back. They took their axes and opened up the wall and it was an inferno. My Dad asked if I could come up at my earliest convenience and repair the fireplace.

I went up there as soon as I had an opening and repaired both of their fireplaces. The repairs took about a week. They worked flawlessly until he died many years later. Man, I miss my dad. 

My wishes are that anyone who reads this story have their fireplace or gas logs inspected by somebody. Of course, you can call us at 334-749-3559, but if you are out of our area or reading this because you just stumbled on it, you can find a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep using the chimney sweep locator. Just click here and enter your ZIP code. 

The National Fire Protection Association states in NFPA 211 that a fireplace shall be inspected annually for structural integrity and need of cleaning.