Weekly Maintenance for your Home

June – Week 23

Just like preventative maintenance on your car, if you take care of a few small items around the house every week, you can avoid many emergency breakdowns and expensive repairs.

Wood Heating

It is almost Summer so it is time to check out your wood heating system. Yes, you read that right. Now is the time to sweep any chimney connected to any wood burning appliance or fireplace. Why sweep it now? Because, over the summer, any creosote that is present will saturate with humidity turning that creosote into a corrosive agent inside the chimney. The humidity will also make it more likely to cause a chimney fire at the beginning of the next heating season.

So have your chimney swept, and have it inspected for any end of season problems that you should get repaired before the next heating season. Many chimney related fires occur with the first fire of the season because poor conditions have gotten worse over the summer. Spotting a problem now allows you to get it fixed during the chimney specialists slow season and means that you are ready for that first cold snap, whenever it hits us. Follow this link for more information on "Wood Heating" .

Clothes Dryer

Vacuum lint from ducts and areas surrounding the clothes dryer. If your clothes don't seem to be drying as quickly as they did in the past, you probably have a lint obstruction in the ductwork itself and you will need to brush out the entire duct. If you have flexible ductwork, make sure it is not kinked. I get a surprising number of questions from you about "Clothes Dryers".