Summer in Eastern Pennsylvania is beautiful, complete with light rains, warm temperatures, lightening bugs, and tall, green grass! On the other hand, winter in Pennsylvania here feels long and grey, due to the frigid conditions and clouds that can hang over the area. During these cold months, a great way to keep yourself comfortable is with a wood-burning fireplace or stove or a coal furnace or boiler. In order to properly care for your fireplace, boiler flue, or furnace chimney, you don’t need to look further than Midtown Chimney Sweeps of Washington, Pennsylvania. Thank you for visiting our webpage!
Washington, Pennsylvania, our home, is referred to locally as Little Washington to distinguish it from Washington, D.C. on the East Coast. It is both a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Region in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania. Our population was 13,663 at the 2010 census!
Washington, PA is the home of Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball!
Chimney Sweeping in Greater Washington, Pennsylvania area
One of our core services is traditional chimney sweeping. We brush the flue with stiff bristle brushes to remove the soot, and then we gather up the soot with our special vacuum. And you can expect us to fulfill the service with thoroughness and punctuality. Annual cleaning of the flue is a must for regular users of fireplaces and wood stoves in order to ensure that smoke will easily flow up and out of your home.
Pennsylvania Fireplace Cleaning
A fireplace is composed of several parts: the foundation, the firebox, and the chimney. The firebox is the portion that contains the fire, which is specially designed to handle the intense heat of a continuously burning flame, and it is lined with special bricks to keep it in good condition. Even wood stoves are lined with a refractory brick material. The bricks that should not be used in these locations are the standard $0.60 per brick red-clay bricks purchased from Home Depot; these are NOT firebricks. All our technicians carry a regular supply of the special, fire-rated, refractory bricks to reline degrading fireboxes. of fireplaces and wood stoves.
Regular chimney sweeping will help to bring to light any issues or problems with the chimney or flue that conducts the bad gasses to the outside world. Get your chimney inspected annually no matter what it is- wood, gas, pellet, or coal. This was we can be more safe in our community!
Greater Eastern Pennsylvania Chimney Repair
While at your home, our technicians can recommend small chimney repairs, fireplaces updates, and water-resistant compounds that will enhance the chimney’s performance or prevent rain from leaking in. Common issues found by our technicians include:
- Need for repairs at the chimney’s crown or top flue tile.
- Need for a chimney cap.
- Need for re-lining of the flue.
- Missing mortar in the firebox or the surrounding refractory firebricks.
- Need for sealing (also known as “tuck-pointing”) at the chimney’s base right at the roof line intersection with the chimney.
You may have a friendly and courteous Midtown Chimney Sweeps certified technician out to your house soon to inspect the chimney and advise you on any work that must be done.
Fireplace Repair Near Washington, PA
The fireplace is the lower portion of a chimney system, where the wood or gas is burning. The byproducts of combustion are carbon and sulfur and other particulates that rise on the hot air of the fire and cool and stick on the inside walls of the fireplace or chimney system. Regular sweeping removes this normal buildup. But sometimes the soot mixes with falling rain, especially when there is no chimney cap or top-sealing damper. That is why we recommend a chimney cap on every flue, and why we offer energy efficient top seal dampers!
Dryer Vent Cleaning in Washington, PA
How many clothes dryer fires are there annually in the United States of America? Thousands of structure fires occur annually from defective or dirty clothes dryers and their associated vents. This is a preventable hazard, or at least something that we can work toward by performing annual dryer vent cleaning and decreasing the work load of the dryer’s blower. This will reduce the friction heat generated by the blower, and allow the dryer to run at a cooler temperature.
The lint and debris blown out by your dryer every time you use the appliance is dry and often hot. If the lint combines with the high heat of the electrical element, together they could start a fire. The moral of the story is- clean regularly!
How often should my dryer vent be cleaned?
- Your clothes dryer’s exhaust pipe and dryer flex connector should be inspected and cleaned once a year.
- The area surrounding the vent should be visually inspected every 6 months to be sure there’s no damage to the flexible connector pipe. Tiny holes may develop in the flexible connector behind the clothes dryer causing dust (or monoxide if it is a gas-fired dryers) to enter the residence.
- Plastic flexible connectors are not code, and must be replaced with a UL-listed product.
Let the experts at Midtown Chimney and Dryer Vent Cleaning of Pennsylvania perform your dryer vent cleaning in the greater Kennett Square, PA area today!
Gas Fireplace Service in Southwestern Pennsylvania
Many people do not know that gas fireplaces are required to be inspected annually per the fireplace manufacturer’s instructions. Although a gas fireplace does not build up with soot as a wood-burning fireplace does, there remain safety issues to be concerned about.
We Fix Leaky Chimneys in Washington, PA, and Most of Eastern Pennsylvania
A common chimney repair for our technicians is that of providing water protection on the exterior surfaces of the fireplace or chimney. We can fix leaky chimneys. Our suite of water-resistant membranes and coatings can be applied on moist surfaces and only 4 hours before a rainstorm.
- Crown Coat seals the top of a concrete and brick chimney with a rubberized barrier.
- Chimney Saver seals the moisture from entering the sides of brick and stone chimneys.
- Flash Seal repairs and strengthens the roof-to-chimney junction flashing area to keep out water.
Quick-drying and effective, our chimney protection and leak-fighting solutions are gaining popularity from Seattle, Washington to Central Iowa, wherever the need arises. If your leaky chimney needs a repair, call our friendly staff and schedule a service call for a courteous Midtown Chimney Sweeps technician today!
Interesting fact: Did you know that National Code requires for all chimneys, fireplaces and vents to be inspected at least once a year?
Legal Definitions:Â The Types of Chimney and Fireplace Inspections
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Â recognizes 3 levels of fireplace and chimney inspections. The three inspection levels increase in their invasiveness as the numbers increase.
- Level I Chimney Inspection
- This is your annual chimney inspection performed with every chimney sweep. Level 1 inspections satisfy the annual inspection requirement per NFPA 14.2. It is a thorough visual scan of all readily accessible portions of the chimney, appliance and connector pipes.
- Level II Chimney Inspection
- This is a more invasive inspection that requires the technician to inspect all accessible portions of the chimney, appliance and flue. This is required for all real estate professionals and property managers who are managing a home sale or transaction. When a residence changes ownership the fuel type changes, or any structural damage has occurred to the home, a Level II Inspection should be ordered. A Level II inspection requires roof access, and a live scan video of the inside of the flue. The video camera inspection is helpful to the technician to identify debris, soot buildup, and damaged flue tiles or chimney pipes.
- Level III Chimney Inspection
- This is the most invasive chimney inspection recognized by the NFPA 211. It requires the removal of bricks, drywall, or other building materials in order to allow the technician to gain access to the area that needs inspection. We do not quote these prices over the phone due to the unique nature of each job. So let’s start with a Level I chimney inspection and see if you need anything more than that first!
Proudly Serving These Pennsylvania Towns
People often associate the Pennsylvanian countryside with Amish people, and the city with iron making foundries. The Keystone State is home to many more Amish besides those in Lancaster. We at Midtown Chimney Sweeps are proud to serve nearly all of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Communities in which we provide service include Washington, Pittsburgh, Bethel Park, Wheeling, OH, Martins Ferry, OH, Triadelphia, OH, Waynesburg, PA, Brownsville, PA, California, PA, West Middletown, PA, Hickory, PA
