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Go ahead. Click play for the timeless musical film, Mary Poppins. Even in the clench of a mucky Tualatin Valley winter the rooftop scene with its exuberant dance sequence will melt the frozen puddles in your driveway and sweep the frosty bits from the damp crannies in your head.

And just as the chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins clean out the dirtiest stacks in London so too should you have the flue in your fireplace or wood burning stove professionally cleaned once a year.

If a person uses a fireplace, wood stove, or wood stove insert on a regular basis throughout the year especially burning wet or resinous softwood the Portland Fire Marshal recommends the flue be inspected and cleaned annually.

Soft, resinous woods like pine produce an excess of smoke, sparks and creosote. The moisture in unseasoned wood combines with the creosote to produce a gummy, sticky tar. This substance bonds to the interior of the flue forming a shiny, brittle, highly flammable coating.

Houses built before 1970 are at greater risk of chimney fires because they do not have the terracotta flue liners of newer homes. The interior of an unlined chimney is more porous, which allows faster bounding and hampers removal efforts.

Once a chimney has been saturated with the highly flammable combination of unburned particles of wood, oils and resins that are produced by burning "it is extremely difficult to remove the sticky glaze" and a flue fire will result.

To lessen the chance of creosote buildup, burn only seasoned hardwoods. Firewood should be stored in a dry, well-vented area for nine to twelve months, says Guy.

Burning waste paper and garbage, also, increases the likelihood of chimney fires. Only use a small amount of newspaper and kindling to start the fire, adding seasoned chucks at a slow rate to keep the flames from reaching up the chimney.

A regular maintenance schedule will keep your wood-burning fireplace safe and efficient year round. This is especially true for fireplaces on outside walls that are "more susceptible to freezing and thawing," causing deterioration of the interior of the chimney. Exterior wall fireplaces will experience cold air inversion because hot air rises and cold air falls, so instead of drawing upwards a volume of cold pushes the smoke down. Before lighting a fire, twist several sheets of newspaper into a torch, light and hold it inside the fireplace with the damper open to warm the flue.

Small, tree-climbing American mammals, like the raccoon, can instigate problems above the roofline with a fireplace chimney. Raccoon families, squirrels and birds are attracted to the height, which provides a secure, cozy spot to nest, especially during the spring and summer months when fireplaces are infrequently used.

The building materials employed by these furry squatters are highly combustible and the blockage decreases flue drafting causing fumes and smoke to backup into the house.

Problems with birds and raccoons can easily be prevented. Many chimneys do not have "proper spark arrestor rain caps," which will prevent stray sparks from leaving the flue as well as keeping out rain and animals.

Migratory birds like the Chimney Swift are considered endangered and cannot be legally removed from a chimney while they are nesting. Once the Chimney Swift has taken up residence, a sweep can do nothing until the nest is vacated. At that time the nesting materials need to be removed by cleaning.

"When birds like these establish a nesting pattern, they tend to return to the same chimneys year after year," says Guy. He emphasizes the need for a chimney cap, which will also, improve the functioning of a fireplace by reducing the amount of back drafting caused by high winds.

Learn more about this author, K Shawn Edgar.
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