Websites for chimney technicians.

At least once a year for anything burned regularly, and more often if you burn softwood, damp wood, or run the stove low and smoky through the shoulder seasons. The measure that matters is creosote thickness, not the calendar — we record it each visit and tell you whether your interval should be shorter or can be longer.

It is a documented inspection of a wood-burning appliance and its venting against the installation code, carried out by a certified technician, and it is what most Canadian insurers require to write or renew a policy on a house with a wood stove. It also comes up at nearly every rural real estate closing. You get a written report with photographs to send them.

Creosote — unburned wood tars condensed on the flue wall — igniting. People describe a loud roaring or a sound like a freight train, dense smoke and sparks from the top. If it happens, get everyone out and call the fire service, and have the chimney inspected before you light another fire, because the heat frequently cracks liners and tiles even when the house is untouched.

Usually draft. Common causes are a cold flue that needs priming, a closed or seized damper, a flue that is too short or too large for the appliance, a blockage such as a nest, or a house so tight that the fireplace cannot get combustion air — a range hood or a bathroom fan running will often make it worse. We diagnose which of those it is rather than guessing at the chimney.

Yes, once we find where it actually enters. The usual culprits are a cracked crown at the top, failed flashing where the chimney passes through the roof, missing cap, or porous brick and open joints soaking up water. Sealing brick without fixing the crown or flashing traps the water inside and accelerates the damage, so we repair the source.

They do, annually. Glass gets a haze, logs and embers shift out of position and burn incorrectly, pilots and thermocouples fail, and vent terminals get blocked by snow or nests. It is a gas appliance venting to the outdoors, so it gets serviced under a gas licence and its venting checked like any other.