The Irish Sweep is still accepting calls to answer questions and schedule any service needs. However, no on-site visits are currently being conducted pursuant to the government's stay in place order. Please feel free to contact us at 510.521.4088 to get answers to your questions or schedule a future appointment.

How and Why To Install a New Wood Burning Fireplace Insert

In this article, we’ll discuss how to install a fireplace insert in your home and the many benefits of doing so.

If you’re like most people, you probably enjoy the warm glow of a fire during the winter. While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying an open fire, did you know that installing a fireplace insert could improve your home’s heating efficiency by 70 percent or more? It’s true – a new fireplace insert is one of the best ways to improve the comfort and value of your home. 

What is a Fireplace Insert?

A fireplace insert is a type of wood (or gas) appliance without legs, and they are designed to be placed inside an existing wood fireplace. Fireplace inserts consist of a metal box that is inserted seamlessly into the fireplace opening. Because of their design, fireplace inserts are much more efficient than traditional wood-burning fireplaces. They dramatically increase heating capacity and wood-burning efficiency while still enjoying the unmatched warmth, ambiance, and nostalgia that only wood fireplaces can provide.

Choosing a New Insert

The first step to install a fireplace insert is to choose the right model. There are many different types of inserts available on the market, so it’s important to select one that fits your needs and lifestyle.

When choosing an insert, you’ll need to consider the following factors:

  • The size of your fireplace opening
  • The type of fuel you want to use (wood or gas)
  • Your desired heating capacity
  • The efficiency rating of the insert
  • The style of the insert

Once you’ve considered these factors, it’s time to start shopping!

How to Install a Fireplace Insert

Now that you’ve chosen the perfect fireplace insert, it’s time to install it in your home. This job is best done by a professional because it requires special tools and expertise. Our local technicians with The Irish Sweep take a unique approach to installing wood-burning fireplace inserts, incorporating the style and design of each individual fireplace.

If you’re interested in having a wood-burning fireplace insert installed in your home, be sure to contact The Irish Sweep. We’ll install it safely and efficiently. And don’t forget annual maintenance, which will keep your insert running smoothly for decades to come.

If you’re thinking about learning how to install a fireplace insert yourself, be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions carefully and take the proper safety precautions. This is not a quick and easy DIY! 

The Benefits of a New Insert

There are many benefits to installing a new fireplace insert in your home. Some of the most notable benefits include:

  • Increased heating capacity with less smoke
  • A dramatic increase in wood-burning efficiency
  • Increased home value
  • The ability to zone heat your home
  • Reduced energy costs

If you’re looking for a way to improve the comfort and value of your home, installing a new fireplace insert is a great option.

Talk to Us

Our services at The Irish Sweep can help maintain and enjoy a wood-burning chimney and fireplace all winter and for years to come. We take great pride in offering our fireplace installation services to the resident community and the local Bay Area. To schedule an appointment with our team, call us at (510)521-4088, or visit our contact page.

How Often Do You Need a Chimney Cleaner/Sweep?

A favorite pastime of so many of us is sitting and telling stories around a crackling fire. When the fire dies down and the embers go out, though, there’s ash and soot to be swept up. That same soot can build up in the interior of your chimney and cause problems if ignored for too long. This points to the question: how often do you need the best chimney cleaner or chimney sweep

The National Fire Protection Association Recommends: 

Standard 211 of the National Fire Protection Association states that, “Chimneys, fireplaces, and vents shall be inspected at least once a year for soundness, freedom from deposits, and correct clearances. Cleaning, maintenance, and repairs shall be done if necessary.” This once-a-year national safety standard is the recommendation that most chimney sweeps will give you. 

What If I Don’t Use the Fireplace Often?

It’s easy to assume that you can leave your fireplace and chimney alone if you’re not lighting fires. However, chimney damage can occur from other external factors such as earthquakes, storms, and moisture. Without an annual inspection, you might be accidentally ignoring worsening conditions that may ultimately damage the structure of your home. 

  • Structural Damage: Wet weather can weaken the joints of your chimney, leading to cracks or structural shifts. It can also let unwanted moisture into your home. If not repaired in a timely manner, damage may become so severe that the chimney collapses.
  • Pests: An unused chimney can be the perfect warm, dry place for insects and animals to settle into. Squirrels, birds, spiders, and even mice can crawl and nest in your chimney, wreaking havoc on its masonry. 

Creosote Buildup Requires The Best Chimney Cleaner

If you use your fireplace every so often during the colder months, you may have noticed a black, tar-like, shiny or fuzzy substance on the interior walls of the chimney. This substance is called creosote, a highly flammable chemical byproduct of burning wood. If you notice creosote buildup, call a chimney sweep before you light another fire, otherwise you might be looking at a fire a little larger than you anticipated. 

5 Surprising Benefits of a Clean Chimney 

  1. A safe and efficient fireplace 
  2. Reduced smoky odors
  3. Discover chimney damage before a costly repair is necessary 
  4. Prevent corrosion of chimney walls due to creosote buildup
  5. Prevents carbon monoxide inhalation and poisoning 

The Irish Sweep Makes Chimney Maintenance Easy

An annual cleaning by the best chimney cleaner like The Irish Sweep is an imperative step to proper chimney maintenance. Our technicians are proud of our 40+ years of experience servicing the Bay Area, and there’s no chimney problem we haven’t seen before! We can inspect the inside and outside of your chimney in detail to deep clean, discover damage, and recommend any repairs. 

Schedule Our Best Chimney Cleaner  Now 

Our services at The Irish Sweep can help maintain and enjoy a wood-burning chimney and fireplace all winter and for years to come. We take great pride in offering our Bay Area chimney cleaning services to the resident community and the local Bay Area.

To schedule an appointment with our team, call us at (510)521-4088, or use this simple contact form by clicking here.

Here is a little known fact about creosote: It oxidizes.  Creosote that was not able to be removed at the time of the last service appointment will actually change chemical composition, rendering it a substance that can now be removed. It’s never too late to schedule a chimney cleaning! 

Why you Need a Home Inspection Chimney?

Before you buy your dream home, it’s important to get a full home inspection chimney. Home inspection chimney can uncover potentially life-threatening problems like toxic mold, faulty wiring that could cause a significant fire, or unstable structures just months away from collapsing. Often as buyers, we expect a professional home inspection chimney service to cover all aspects of the property, but the chimney needs a separate qualified evaluation for many safety reasons. 

The health and safety of your family could depend on your decision to go through with a chimney inspection. Here’s some important information you need to know about why home inspection chimney are crucial when it comes to purchasing new homes. 

What a home inspection chimney could uncover:

Potential Water Damage

Did you know that  the foundation of a chimney is typically only 12 inches deep? That means that with earth movement from summer to winter, water damage from sprinklers, downspouts, and weather conditions could render your chimney foundation dangerous. 

Neglected Spaces

 Most inspections are carried out for the purpose of the loan lender or negotiations, and they may not always serve the buyer. Make sure that your home inspection includes often-forgotten spaces like the crawl space, basement, attics, chimney, fireplace, and loft area. A smart buyer can even use details from the full home inspection to negotiate with the seller.

Shifting from New Construction

Has the space around the chimney been newly landscaped, subject to digging, or under construction? Have there been significant earthquakes since the last chimney inspection? Shifting of the earth underneath or around the chimney could cause instability, which is why it’s important to make sure the inspection includes outdoor areas surrounding the chimney. 

Instability from Cold Weather

With the drought and hotter weather, the hard soil can stabilize a chimney to some degree, but only temporarily. As cold weather moves in, dampness and moisture soften the soil around the base of the chimney, allowing movement in the structure which could render the chimney unstable. Even if the house is on a concrete slab and the chimney is surrounded by concrete, the concrete still absorbs the moisture and the chimney can still move. If your area experiences high winds, wet weather, and earthquakes, instability can be particularly dangerous. 

Fireplace Inserts: Extra Credit

Once your fireplace and chimney have been thoroughly inspected and cleaned, you may be looking for ways to enjoy the ambience of a crackling fire. A fireplace insert is a fuel-efficient, heat-efficient method of doing just that. The closed combustion system of a fireplace insert can be 60% to 80% heat efficient, contrasting with traditional or older fireplaces that only convert 5% to 20% of fuel into usable heat. You can enjoy watching the flames through the glass doors of the fireplace insert while needing less firewood to keep them stoked. 

Schedule a Home Inspection Chimney Now 

Our services at The Irish Sweep can help you safely maintain and enjoy your wood-burning fireplace and chimney for years to come. To schedule an appointment with an expert, call us at (510)521-4088, or use this simple contact form by clicking here.

Fireplace Inserts and Maintenance Tips During the Shelter-in-Place

There’s nothing cozier than a wood-burning fireplace for warmth. But fireplace maintenance is vital to the health and safety of your home. In fact, improper upkeep is a common reason for house fires. Fireplace inserts are one solution to help safeguard your home, but here’s a look at some other steps you can take.

Sweep the Interior

Sweeping out your fireplace on a regular basis will make it look tidier, as well as cause it to work more efficiently. We suggest wearing a dust mask to avoid inhaling particles from ash and creosote. Sweeping out this buildup also helps to prevent it from catching on fire.

Watch For Smoke

A well-maintained fireplace shouldn’t fill your home with smoke. This is an important warning sign to pay attention to. It’s possible you could simply be burning the wrong wood. But it’s also very likely there’s a layer of soot or flammable creosote in your chimney that isn’t allowing it to properly vent smoke.

Burning the Right Wood

There are as many different kinds of wood as there are trees, but maybe you’ve never considered what you’re putting in your fireplace before. Hardwoods, such as ash and oak, are the best options because they’re denser and give off more heat. Avoid burning unseasoned “green” wood. Ideally, wood needs to be split and dried for 6-12 months in a covered area before use. Green wood just won’t burn as well, and it creates more creosote on your chimney walls.

Fireplace Inserts and Maintenance

Fireplace inserts can be installed with heat-proof glass to contain any burning materials, like stray embers. Most of them have a blower that circulates heat into the room. Fireplace inserts protect your home, while making your fireplace more efficient.

Scheduling With Us

Aside from DIY sweepings, it’s a good idea to have your fireplace and chimney professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year. It’s less work to maintain your home than to let creosote buildup. Plus, it’s nice to know your fireplace is ready on cold nights. To schedule a chimney cleaning with us, or learn more about fireplace inserts, call (510) 521-4088.

STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT AND YOUR CHIMNEY IS COLD…

Seize the moment!

Those with wood-burning fireplaces take note! Have you heard about the most recent new proposal to be mandated by the (BAAQMD) Bay Area Air Quality Management District? In a nutshell, there is a strong push toward the elimination of fireplaces.

As a result, if you are considering the installation of a set of artificial gas logs or a gas-burning fireplace insert, seize the moment NOW, especially if you are considering relocating in the near future.

The Time is NOW!

As we move toward September, Bay area retail stores and professional chimney installers will be overwhelmed and those dreams to have an installation completed by the Holidays may not become a reality. This is YOUR MOMENT to be pro-active. So before that little cold nip of fall air puts a shiver in your spine, start planning.

4 Guidelines to help with your Chimney decisions

  1. Any time a fuel source is changed in a fireplace, for example, wood-burning to a gas conversion, the chimney must be cleaned.
  2. If the plan is to install as set of artificial gas logs, an inspection of the interior surfaces of the chimney is required to determine the worthiness of the clay liners inside the chimney and their related mortar joints.
  3. If the chimney fails the inspection, you might want to consider your options which could include installing a stainless steel liner in the chimney that will support that set of logs or installing a gas-burning or wood-burning fireplace insert.
  4. It might also be time to consider the seismic liability of your chimney.

The BAAQMD is on the move. There is a proposed mandate coming down the pipeline and all Bay Area residents who love their open wood-burning fireplace should take notice. If the proposal is approved, this will be a requirement on all home sales; Please check our website www.theirishsweep.com regularly for updated information.

The Irish Sweep offers complete installation of artificial gas logs or fireplace insert. Contact us today to schedule your install at 510-521-4088.

INSERTS, WHAT ARE THEY?

Inserts are either gas or wood burning, could be pellet but we see very few of these in the Bay Area.  They are a highly engineered metal box, fabricated in a factory and designed to be clean burning and they slide into the firebox of either a masonry or factory built fireplace.

The manufacturer of each of these inserts will specify the venting materials required for the insert, the clearances to combustibles and provide installation directions for each model they manufacture.  These appliances have all been tested and approved by some testing laboratory.

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