Down-to-earth chimney help for Fontana homes, what fails first, how creosote builds up, when to reline, and how to choose a sweep.
Most Fontana fireplaces burn only a few evenings a winter, and homeowners assume that means the chimney stays clean. It does not, and the occasional-use flue carries risks all its own.
Read more →When the Santa Anas blow hot and dry through the Inland Empire, an open or poorly capped flue is one more opening on your home that embers can find. Here is why the cap matters so much here.
Read more →Switched to gas logs and assumed the chimney maintenance ended with the wood? The flue above a gas appliance still has to draw, stay clear, and vent safely. Here is what it needs.
Read more →Years of fires leave their mark inside the firebox and up the flue, and some cracks are routine while others are a real hazard. Here is how to tell what the heat has done to your masonry.
Read more →Water is the chief enemy of a chimney even in a dry place like Fontana, and it almost always gets in at the top. Here is how a leak starts and the damage it does before you ever see a stain.
Read more →A flue that sits cold most of the year is the easiest nesting spot on the house. Here is why animals move into Fontana chimneys, the trouble they cause, and the one fix that ends it.
Read more →For a sweep, a repair, or relining, our Fontana team looks it over, tells you what we find, with no manufactured urgency.