Chimney Sweeps West: Gutters

Posted on August 1, 2018 by - Handyman Services

Chimney Sweeps West: Gutters

Have you ever wondered why most houses have gutters, and what their purpose is? Gutters are optional, but almost every house will have them. There are multiple benefits to having a gutter system and gutters on your house. One of the main benefits is that gutters will prevent water damage by collecting the water from your roof and draining it. Because of how regularly gutters are used, over the course of time, they will need to be cleaned out. This is one of the most important things people tend to forget whenever it comes to their house maintenance. There are several problems a dirty gutter can cause.

Gutter Cleaning Chimney Sweeps West Knoxville TN

What Will Happen If I Do Not Clean My Gutters Regularly?

  1. Roof Damage: If precipitation starts to build up and clog your gutters, then your roof will start to rot and decay. Its life will drastically decrease. This will cause you to either have some of it redone or all of it completely replaced, and both options will cost you a large amount of money.
  2. Pests, Pests, And Pests: Clogged gutters will harbor all sorts of materials. It can be anywhere from rotting leaves to a dead bird. These materials will attract all sorts of pests which will cause more problems.
  3. Damage To Fascia: A fascia is a board that is right behind your gutter. Whenever your gutters do not have a clear path for draining water, it will overflow and seep into the fascia. This will not only ruin your gutters but also there is a risk of it ruining the exterior of your house.
  4. Drowning Your Plants: Your plants that are planted along the sides of your house can potentially be damaged. If water is spilling from the top because your gutters are full, then it could drown your plants and kill them. Overwatering your plants will kill them much faster.
  5. Cracks In The Foundation: Whenever your water cannot be drained and it just sits there and the weather drops, it will freeze and turn into ice. This will cause cracks in your foundation which can turn into a disaster. If your foundation becomes unstable, your walls, roof, or even the house can come tumbling down.

Hire Someone To Clean Your Gutters

As you can tell, there are numerous issues that will occur if you do not clean your gutters. Even though cleaning gutters is a simple task, it can be dangerous and a lengthy process. If you did not have the time to notice that your gutters needing cleaning, then you most likely will not have time to clean them yourself. But if you hire a handyman, then the job will get done professionally and there are added bonuses such as you will have extra time to do whatever you want and you do not have to worry about damaging anything or injuring yourself. If you are interested in hiring a handyman to help you out, contact Chimney Sweeps West. We guarantee that all of our handymen are reliable and will go above and beyond your expectations.

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Chimney Sweeps West: Why You Should Hire A Handyman

Posted on June 13, 2018 by - Handyman Services

Chimney Sweeps West: Why You Should Hire A Handyman

As the summer season rolls around, everyone wants to redo their homes for the summer time. During the summer season, many people like to use their homes as a venue to host all sorts of events such as outdoor grilling, dinner parties, pool parties, graduation parties, and much more. There are many different ways to spruce up your home for the visitors, but they all take some time and effort. If you hire a handyman to help out with your decor projects, you will get a lot accomplished at a faster rate.

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Ways To Spruce Up Your Home For Summer

  • Adding A Deck: A deck is a perfect spot for entertaining guests. For the summer months, you can add fun colored furniture along with a porch swing to make your deck feel more cozy and comfortable.
  • Building A Fence: If you have a fence around your home, it will provide a boundary for your children and pets to play within, but also it will give your house curb appeal and extra safety. You and your loved ones can enjoy the beautiful weather without the worry of an intruder sneaking in easily.
  • Painting Your House: Depending on your budget, you can paint both the interior or exterior of your house to give it that extra boost. During the summer months, rays of sunshine will shine throughout your entire house, so it is recommended that you use lighter colors. The lighter colors will give the home an illusion of it looking larger than what it really is, and it will give it a fresh and modern appearance.
  • Framing The House With Plants: Plants and greenery can give your home a fresh and clean look. You can plant roses, lilies or any other type of flowers in the front yard to create a natural atmosphere for your guests. Also, adding plants throughout the house will tie in the summery feel.

Benefits Of A Handyman

  • More Work Done In Less Time: Any repair in a home will take time, but a handyman can complete the task in less time than you can. While they are repairing the broken item, you can have free time to get done whatever else you need.
  • Expertise And Experience: A handyman will have more knowledge on repairing household items than you will. Most of the handymen have been in business for a long period of time, and they know exactly what they are doing. It will be the finest quality of work.
  • Right Types Of Tools: If something in your household broken and you attempt to fix it but use the wrong types of tools, then it can lead to more damage. Most likely, you did more damage and wasted money because you will probably never use that tool again. A handyman is prepared and already has his tools and he knows their exact purpose.
  • Saving Money: The idea of hiring a handyman sounds expensive, but often it is cheaper. An independent handyman will charge less than a specialized service provider. Depending on your relationship with the handyman, some are willing to negotiate and charge less than usual.

A Handyman Is The Best Option

Anytime you are in need of a repair, just call a handyman. A handyman will also take on projects such as fixing up a house for the summer by doing anything from hanging drapes to moving furniture to the patio. They are skilled and experienced in carpentry and will provide the best service possible at an affordable rate.

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2018 Best Ways to Improve Your Home’s Exterior

Posted on May 11, 2018 by - Handyman Services

2018 Best Ways to Improve Your Knoxville Home’s Exterior

2018 Best Ways to Improve Your Home’s Exterior

Whenever spring or summer comes around, the good weather encourages people to host events at their homes. It could be a simple family get-together or an extravagant party. It could be that you were deciding to put your house on the market. Whatever the event may be, your home needs to be ready for visitors, and it needs to be in tip-top shape. If you reside in or close to Knoxville, TN then check out Chimney Sweeps West. They offer various handyman services to get the curb appeal you are searching for. To get the exterior to look presentable, some of the options are adding a fresh coat of paint, adding a fence, or adding a deck.

Painting the Exterior

Whenever you paint the exterior of a house, it adds curb appeal. If you choose the right color scheme, then your house can appear bigger, and who doesn’t want a bigger looking house? Painters say neutrals, whites, and creams can give the illusion of a larger house, and currently, those are the trending colors. It will also increase your house value by 2-5%. Home buyers search for houses that are ready to be moved into than doing all the extra repairs. It can also benefit you because painting the exterior is much cheaper than installing new vinyl siding or whatever the material may be. Painting can help your house to stand out because if you live in a subdivision where all the houses are identical then you will need something unique to make your home different. It also gives you the opportunity to be creative and customize your house to your liking.

Fencing the House

The houses that are fenced give off a polished appearance. Some fences have ornamental elements on them for decorative purposes. The quality of your fences can also increase your house value because fences are extremely useful. Fences are excellent for marking your property. If you live in a close subdivision, then there has to be a marking that indicates where your property begins and ends. Along with being a property divider, fences are great for safety purposes. If you have children, then fences serve as boundaries preventing the child from leaving the house. It is also a boundary for pets. Often, pets wonder out to the yard, and sometimes cross that boundary and get injured, but if you have a fence, then you do not have to worry about it because it acts as a security precaution.

Handyman Build a Patio

Adding A Deck

There are various types of decks all made from different materials. The two common ones are a pressure-treated wood and composite deck. If you want a custom- built, unique style then hire a well-reputable deck designer. Backyard decks are multifunctional; for example, you can have dinner with the whole family while grilling outdoors, you can have lounge chairs and sit out there while reading a book, or you can host social events while enjoying the company of your friends. A backyard deck can increase your property value drastically. If you have a well-built deck, then the average value it adds is about $9,000. Decks are perfect for privacy. If you do not like having a lot of attention, then having a deck in your yard can prevent have the public’s attention.

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Importance of Dryer Vent Cleaning

Posted on January 22, 2018 by - Handyman Services

Importance of Dryer Vent Cleaning

When the weather gets bad and you can’t hang clothes out to dry, a clothes dryer can be one of the most helpful appliances you own. However, using a clothes dryer comes with its risks. If you don’t clean your dryer vent often, your clothes dryer can be a fire hazard in your home. To ensure your clothes dryer is safe to use, you should try to clean your dryer vent regularly.

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Why Cleaning Your Dryer Vent is Important

Keeping your dryer vent clean prevents a house fire. That’s because lint (which is small fibers that come off your clothes every time you dry a load of laundry) accumulates in the dryer vent. When you don’t clean the lint out of your dryer vent, it can easily catch fire.

According to statistics, approximately 15,600 household fires, 400 injuries and 15 deaths are caused by dryer vent fires each year. In 1996, a report by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 15,000 household fires caused by dryers. According to the report, the fires resulted in 20 deaths, more than 300 injuries and more than $80 million fire damage.

But while preventing a house fire is arguably the best benefit of cleaning your dryer vent, there are multiple reasons why you should keep your dryer vent clean during months when you’re often using your tumble dryer.

Save on your energy bill

When your dryer vent is full of lint particles, humid air doesn’t travel down the vent as efficiently. Because of this, it will take longer to dry your clothes, and the longer you run your tumble dryer every month, the higher your energy bill will be.

Dry clothes more efficiently

As mentioned, a dirty dryer vent can cause your clothes to take longer to dry, meaning you’ll save time on drying clothes when your dryer vent is clean. However, in cases where the dryer vent has an exceptional amount of lint buildup, you might even find that your tumble dryer doesn’t dry clothes completely.

Protect your tumble dryer

When your dryer vent is blocked with lint, your tumble dryer will be more prone to overheating. This can cause it to burn out more quickly, and generally just isn’t good for your dryer.

Protect your clothes

A dryer vent that’s blocked with lint can cause problems with your clothes. If your tumble dryer constantly overheats, this could lead to heat damage on more delicate fabrics, for instance.

Much like any other cleaning and home maintenance, cleaning your dryer vent is part of what you need to do to keep your home safe and clean.

Signs Your Dryer Vent Needs Cleaning

If you’re not sure whether or not your dryer vent needs cleaning, there are some signs you can look for, these include:

  • The laundry room gets very hot while you’re using the dryer.
  • Clothing doesn’t dry within a normal dry cycle.
  • Lint is visible around the around the dryer’s lint filter.
  • The outside of the dryer gets very hot when it’s being used.
  • There’s a lot of lint and debris in the laundry room, especially when the dryer is being used, there’s lint particles floating in the air.
  • The outside dryer vent opening has visible debris buildup.
  • Clothing is very hot after a dry cycle, perhaps even burning a bit if you remove it from the dryer directly after a cycle is finished.

While all of the above mentioned things could indicate that you need to have a dryer vent cleaning, you shouldn’t leave your dryer vent if it’s been more than a year since you last had it cleaned. If you can’t remember the last time you had your dryer vent cleaned, booking a dryer vent cleaning as soon as possible is recommended.

How to Clean Your Dryer Vent

You can clean your dryer vent yourself on a regular basis if you’re up to it. While you might not have all the necessary tools to clean your dryer vent professionally, cleaning the vent yourself from time is a good way of getting rid of most of the lint that’s trapped in the dryer vent. When cleaning your dryer vent yourself, you can also check for bird or squirrel nests near the vent opening outside. Unfortunately squirrels have a tendency to make nests in dryer vent openings, so it’s a good idea to check this area regularly.

If you’re unsure about how to clean your dryer vent yourself, it’s always best to call in a professional. Many people aren’t sure how to disconnect the dryer duct and reassemble the ductwork, but it’s important that every step is done correctly to ensure your dryer functions properly. But even if you are capable of cleaning the dryer vent yourself, it’s still good to call in a professional to clean the duct at least once a year.

Need a professional dryer vent cleaning? Call Chimney Sweeps West to keep your home safe from dryer vent fires.

The Benefits of Cleaning Your Dryer Vent

Posted on January 15, 2018 by - Handyman Services

The Benefits of Cleaning Your Dryer Vent

You depend on your dryer to dry your garments. Regardless of whether you dry garments once per week or do a load every couple of days, you expect your dryer will work. However, if you neglect to keep up your dryer vent cleaning, your dryer could fail. Even more terrible, your dryer could cause a home fire.

Your dryer vent is a standout amongst the most generally ignored parts of your dryer, however it does so much for your dryer system. Your dryer expels the dampness and build up from your garments through your dryer vent. Along these lines, it’s important that you keep up your dryer vent in good shape before it decides to clog.

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Counteract Home Fires by Cleaning Your Dryer Vent

Dryer vents working incorrectly are one of the main sources of garments fires in homes. Lint that is not expelled from your dryer venting framework can stop up your whole system. In the event that this happens and your dryer overheats, your odds of encountering a fire skyrocket. Luckily, you can keep this issue from ever happening. By getting your dryer vent cleaned, you lessen your odds of encountering an apparel fire because of lint.

Take Out the Danger of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

You can exacerbate your odds of encountering carbon monoxide poisoning by neglecting to keep up your dryer vent. The colorless, odorless gas comes from fuel-burning appliances. Your dryer can be a wellspring of carbon monoxide danger too. At the point when a considerable measure of build up collects in your dryer venting framework, and your framework overheats, the vapor from your dryer can contain carbon monoxide. These exhaust fumes can radiate carbon monoxide each time you dry your garments without being detected. The most ideal approach to keep this from happening is by cleaning your dryer vent. Furthermore, if it’s been quite a bit since you cleaned your vent, you ought to likewise get your home checked for carbon monoxide.

Decrease the Cost of Your Energy Bill

A stopped up dryer venting framework forces your dryer to work harder to dry your garments. When your venting framework is obstructed, your dryer doesn’t have the wind stream it needs to dry your garments satisfactorily. Thus, stopped up dryers take more time to dry your garments, which builds your service charge. Furthermore, the more drawn out your garments are in the dryer, the more wear and tear your garments undertake. The more drawn out your garments take to dry the less wear you’ll get from them in general. You’ll be compelled to buy new garments sooner than you anticipated.

At Chimney Sweeps West, we are your go-to source with regards to cleaning and keeping up your dryer vents. With our assistance, you can drastically shrink the chance of garments fires and enhance your dryer’s general proficiency. On the off chance that you’ve seen your dryer isn’t drying as quick as it should, or you’ve never had your dryer cleaned, it’s time to call us. We are glad to look at your dryer and clean it if essential.

Signs That You Need a Dryer Vent Cleaning

Posted on January 8, 2018 by - Handyman Services

There’s nothing more irritating for a property holder than when the clothes dryer quits working. The chore of laundry reaches a total halt and there’s no place to put the basket loaded with sopping wet garments. For this situation most mortgage holders consequently believe there’s an issue with the dryer itself thus they call the machine repair organization. He takes five minutes to establish that there’s nothing wrong with the dryer. The dryer vent is stopped up. So now the property holder has paid for a repair visit that was never needed to begin with.

Clean Your Chimney Before Santa Arrives

Posted on December 25, 2017 by - Chimney Care

You might not realize this, but cleaning your chimney is an important part of keeping your home safe during winter, not only for Santa’s sake, but also your family’s. During a chimney cleaning, your professional chimney sweep will remove creosote buildup and check to see if there’s any damage inside your chimney.

What Causes Chimney Fires?

There are multiple things that cause chimney fires, but the most common causes of chimney fires tend to include the following:

  • Creosote buildup: Even though you don’t always see the inside of your chimney, it gets dirty like any other part of your home. And unfortunately the only way to prevent creosote from building up in your chimney, is to never use your fireplace. When this layer of buildup in your chimney can cause sparks that can lead to a chimney fire.
  • Rubble: Your chimney is the perfect place for rubble, like leaves, small twigs and other things to accumulate. Birds and small mammals also have a tendency to make nests in chimneys. When you use your fireplace, this rubble can catch fire.
  • Structural problems: In order to channel smoke and harmful gases from your home, your chimney needs to be structurally right. The chimney needs to be build large enough to accommodate the size of your fireplace. Your chimney also needs to be well-maintained. If the inside of your chimney has cracks, or the lining of your chimney is damaged, this could pose an additional risk.
  • Irresponsible fireplace use: It’s recommended that you have your chimney cleaned and inspected every year, but if you aren’t using your fireplace responsibly, even an annual chimney inspections might not be enough. To prevent chimney damage, you should avoid making your fires too hot, as this can cause the inside lining of your chimney walls to crack. Using unseasoned wood or not opening the damper wide enough can also be problematic, as this can cause creosote to build up in your chimney faster, increasing the risk of a chimney fire.

By having annual chimney inspections and learning more about what woods are good to burn in your chimney, as well as how to keep airflow in your chimney at an optimal level, you’ll be able to use your chimney knowing you did everything you could to ensure chimney and fireplace safety.

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Signs Your Chimney Needs Cleaning

It’s good to have your chimney cleaned once a year, so if you can’t remember the last time your chimney was cleaned, call a chimney professional and book a chimney cleaning as soon as possible. To avoid a chimney fire, it’s best to not use your fireplace before your chimney isn’t all cleaned up.

But even if you regularly have your chimney cleaned, creosote can build up at a faster pace if you use your fireplace a lot. A bad odor coming from the fireplace is a pretty clear sign that your chimney needs to be cleaned again. The bad news is that chimney odor can actually be worse in the summer. Even though you probably don’t use your chimney during summer, the high humidity that comes with the warmer months can help bad odors from the creosote buildup in your chimney to travel through the air better. To avoid your chimney from getting smelly over summer, it’s good to have it cleaned right before winter ends.

The Truth About Chimney Fires

You might think that chimney fires always wreak havoc on a home, but the truth is that chimney fires often go undetected. Here’s the scary thing, if you had a chimney fire you didn’t even know about, there’s a pretty good chance your chimney will catch fire again while you use it in the future. Signs that you’ve had a chimney fire that went undetected include things like a damaged and discolored chimney cap, creosote flakes on your roof or the ground, puffy creosote in the chimney and other damages to the chimney itself and surrounding areas of your roof.

If you suspect you might have had a chimney fire, schedule a chimney cleaning and inspection as soon as possible. Don’t use your fireplace before you a chimney professional has had a look at your chimney. While things might get a bit chilly, the comfy heat from your fireplace isn’t worthwhile if you’re using it while your chimney is damaged.

Too many homeowners become complacent when it comes to chimney safety, and unfortunately this complacency has cost many lives in the past. Don’t allow your family to become victims!

Schedule Your Chimney Cleaning

No matter how good or bad the current condition of your chimney, Chimney Sweeps West is here to help. While we’re sure you’d agree that cleaning chimneys isn’t the most glamorous job around, we believe in the work we do because we know the value of chimney safety for fire prevention. Cuddling up in front of a warm fire in the winter should be enjoyable, not stressful. With our chimney care services, it can be.

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How Often Does a Chimney Need to Be Cleaned?

Posted on December 18, 2017 by - Chimney Care

As indicated by the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), chimneys should be cleaned once there is 1/8″ of creosote as well as residue development inside the chimney liner. As per the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), all chimneys ought to be cleaned once per year, no matter what. So which is correct, and does everybody need to get their fireplace cleaned and reviewed, regardless of whether the chimney is not really utilized? This article is here to answer these questions for you.

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What is associated with a Chimney Cleaning?

A chimney sweep evacuates creosote, residue, and blockages from chimney liners, fireboxes, smoke chambers, and dampers. Keeping the chimney framework spotless and free of hindrances is important for various reasons, which are all connected with security, the operation, or the life of your fireplace framework. Basically a fireplace which isn’t kept up can turn into a fire risk and can decay to the point that repairs are very expensive.

When you consume wood in the chimney, there is constantly some measure of creosote that is kept in the chimney lining. In any case, when you utilize certain kinds of wood, the development is far more rapid. For example, untreated wood is brimming with dampness and doesn’t burn clean. Pine additionally makes creosote in the vent develop quickly, which makes it an poor sort of wood to consume.

On the off chance that there is a development of creosote in the fireplace, it’s conceivable that the combustible material will burst into flames, and it could spread from the chimney to the house. In the event that a coating shows up in the vent in any time, even under 1/8″, the CSIA concurs that cleaning shouldn’t wait, as a result of how very combustible the substance is.

Why is a yearly Chimney Inspection Important?

Other than getting your chimney cleaned yearly, it’s essential to have an expert check to make certain the framework isn’t in a condition of deterioration. A broken chimney is a fire danger and ought to be repaired before utilizing the chimney.

What if the Fireplace is Rarely Used?

The NFPA prescribes that all fireplaces be cleaned and assessed every year just in case the framework is damaged, it makes a fire danger. It’s best not to assume that a chimney framework is in great working condition, regardless of the conditions.

When Should a Chimney be Inspected?

Other than getting your chimney investigated yearly, whenever you see unmistakable indications of damage, an examination ought to be planned at the earliest opportunity. In the event that you redesign your framework by including a chimney insert, for instance, it’s best to get a review to ensure the framework is working correctly.

Many individuals wait until the point when cool climate is around to get an inspection, which implies that chimney sweeps are very busy. The best arrangement is to get your chimney cleaned and reviewed in spring or summer, not just to get a hop on the bustling season, but also to give time for repairs, if any are required.

Chimneys are a brilliant addition for any home, and a yearly cleaning and investigation of the framework is the most ideal approach to keep the chimney from turning into a risky fire danger. To plan a yearly assessment, please call our chimney experts for the best administration accessible.

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How often should you clean your chimney?

Chimney Cleaning Importance: Safety tips for before you spark up the logs this winter

Posted on December 11, 2017 by - Chimney Care

With natural gas and propane costs rising, you’ll likely be looking to the old chimney this winter to help cut your home-warming bills. In any case, before you start up the logs, note that chimneys and chimneys are associated with 42 percent of all home fires. So first ensure yours is up to snuff by following the security tips underneath.

Reasons to Call a Chimney Sweep

Posted on December 4, 2017 by - Chimney Care

Reasons to Call a Chimney Sweep

In case you’re new to the universe of chimneys, you may not know precisely what a chimney sweep does. Like the name infers, these experts clear (i.e., clean) fireplaces. Yet, many likewise perform other critical assignments, for example, diagnosing issues and making repairs and substitutions. Knowing what a chimney sweep does now, we need to discuss reasons to get one of these specialists out to your home.

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There’s water inside the firebox. If you have a stack top set up to keep rain from entering the fireplace, in the event that you see water in your firebox, it implies there’s a break some place. Water that gets into a firebox may come through breaks in the blocks and mortar of the stack. Serious and costly harm will happen in the long run if the issue isn’t settled, and in the greater part of cases, only a professional chimney sweep can accurately diagnose where the rupture exists and its degree.

Smoke is going into the house. In the event that the chimney damper is open and smoke is filling the room, there might be something blocking the inside of the stack. An assortment of flotsam and jetsam that is found in a gust of wind or tumbles from trees may have gotten in there. Little creatures are known to fabricate homes in chimneys. Smoke in the room additionally might be the consequence of downdrafts, which can be caused by a fireplace that is too short or a pipe that is too wide. In either case, a professional chimney sweep can rapidly find what’s wrong and furnish you with an answer.

You’ve had a chimney fire. Not all fireplace flames can be seen, but they are all equipped for doing genuine harm. In the event that you ever hear a strange splitting or popping clamor or the sound of thundering originating from the chimney while being used, or if you see it’s creating an incredible measure of dark, thick smoke, you have to promptly douse the fire in the firebox and call emergency administrations. From that point onward, call a chimney sweep to survey the harm and give your fireplace an approval before you utilize it once more.

Proficient chimney sweeps, similar to those at Chimney Sweeps West, have particular hardware and training empowering them to effectively and securely perform yearly reviews, a wide range of repairs and, obviously, careful smokestack cleanings.