1. You’ll Get the Needed Repairs Done Imagine that it’s cold out, snowing sideways, and you’ve spent the entire winter day looking forward to gathering around your fireplace that night. When you go to use it, you realize there’s something wrong. Suddenly, your beloved fireplace is out of commission for weeks until you can get a professional to have a look. Being proactive in caring for your chimney means never having to deal with this situation. Damaged flue liners, billowing smoke, cracked masonry, and dangerous fumes—these are all problems that can spotted during a normal chimney inspection, and having your chimney cleaned will bring any issues forward for analysis. After all, you wouldn’t take your car on a long road trip without having its oil changed first, would you? 2. Get Rid of Buildup, Nests, and Pests During the winter, animals burrow, build nests, and find shelter from the cold weather. That shelter could very well mean your chimney. Having your chimney cleaned in the spring can clear out any nests, debris, and blockages. All of these blockages contribute to greater, more hazardous issues like constricted airflow or chimney fires. 
You might be thinking: why the springtime? With nicer weather, animals don’t need to hunker down in your warm chimney as often. Still, without a chimney cap, your chimney is subject to debris and potential blockages even in the spring, summer, or the fall. When you have your chimney cleaned in the spring, your chimney professional will recommend installing a chimney cap to prevent debris from becoming a problem. They’ll install a cap if it’s needed, too. Now, when you go to use your fireplace in the cooler weather, you won’t have to worry about your chimney being obstructed with your chimney cap’s protection. 3. No More Fireplace Odor You know that smell. The one that drifts through the house, a mix of chemically-smelling soot that lingers around the mouth of your fireplace. That’s the buildup of the residue known as creosote in combination with soot. The smell is noticeable when the chimney isn’t in use, which makes spring and summer months the time of the year when you’ll start smelling this odor. Having your fireplace and chimney professionally cleaned means immensely reducing this odor that wafts through your house. You can say goodbye to smelly fireplaces that stink up your living areas and a more important bonus—you’ll rid the chimney of dangerous creosote buildup, which if there’s a significant presence, it can cause a chimney fire and toxic air pollutants. 4. Repairs: Warmer Weather is Better Chimney cleanings and inspections reveal any problems your chimney may have. While the most basic of these issues can be resolved on the spot like creosote buildup, installing a chimney cap, and giving a chimney the cleaning it needs, there are other problems that demand a lot more attention. A damaged liner or flue needs to be addressed as soon as possible. It’s much better to have this work done in when spring rolls around because you won’t be exposing your house to the cold outside temperatures. Even though chimney professionals can work in all conditions, it does make it easier and safer to address chimney issues when the roof isn’t slippery with ice or covered in snow. 
Although, if your chimney needs exterior masonry repairs, it is important to get this taken care of during the warmer months. Once the temperature begins dropping masons will not be able to complete these repairs without jeopardizing the integrity of the chimney. 5. Chimney Sweep Availability Professional chimney sweeps find themselves particularly busy in the fall. It’s the season where homeowners are thinking about the looming winter months, the cold it will bring, and the fires that they’ll have to stave off the weather. It doesn’t take very long for chimney sweeps to have fully booked schedule. Being proactive about your chimney’s cleanliness and health means getting a chimney sweep to conduct an inspection and cleaning early on. You’d be surprised about the lead times in the fall months. Making sure there’s plenty of opportunity to have this crucial job done before then can protect your chimney from experiencing serious issues before you light that fire and protect your family from the dangerous, sometimes fatal, fumes and combustion byproducts. Chimney Spring Cleaning: Safety and Protection Spring cleaning isn’t just for getting the dust bunnies out of your house or finally washing your windows. It’s about cleaning and caring for all the critical features your house has, and the chimney and fireplace should be at the top of the list. Improper care of chimneys can mean toxic fumes like carbon monoxide leaking into your living spaces, sometimes undetected, and putting you and your family at risk. It means problems that are neglected that could worsen your chimney’s integrity if not reckoned with right away. But when you put cleaning your chimney at the top of your spring to-do list, you can resolve and prevent major chimney issues. We've dedicated ourselves to making sure your home is safer and cleaner after we've completed every project. Contact us today. Since 1985, Vertical has provided exceptional products and services to thousands of satisfied customers across Chicagoland.