ClearChimney Blog

I had chirping in my chimney too, and what you’re hearing is most likely a family of chimney swifts living in your chimney flue.

Chimney swifts are widespread breeding visitors to much of the eastern half of the U.S. and the southern reaches of eastern Canada.  Chimney swifts are tiny birds that migrate from Peru in late March. They leave in early November, about the time the leaves start to change color, and before the first frost.

The migratory bird treaty act protects chimney swifts.

Therefore, they (birds and nests) cannot be legally removed from your chimney without a federally-issued permit.  You will have to wait until after the adults and juveniles leave your chimney to have your chimney cleaned, and a chimney cap installed.

Chimney swifts are most often unnoticed until the time when their young are grown up enough to make chirping sounds when the parents bring them food.  During this time, the chirping sounds can be very persistent and loud.  However, this time is short-lived.  Newly lain eggs will take up to six weeks to reach maturity.  They only lay one brood per year, so once this family leaves, your chimney will be bird free for the winter months.  They will return to the same location year after year. If they are a disturbance to you, cleaning your chimney and installing a chimney cap, once they are gone (mid-November), will keep them from returning next year.

We had chirping in my chimney…

I had chimney swifts come to my house year after year for twenty-two years, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. It’s amazing watch how fast the adults fly in and out of the flue feeding the babies.   One year however, I forgot to close the damper on my fireplace and a baby chimney swift fell from the flue into the fireplace.  The little guy was fully feathered and could fly. I very, gently cupped it in a dish towel, went to the front door, and with an upward motion released it into the air.  It was a wonderful feeling watching it get lift, and fly away.

The young are able to climb up the walls of the chimney. If a baby were to fall down, the best thing to do would be to gently guide it to the walls of the chimney and allow it to climb back up to the nest.

Chimney swifts generally mate for life and both the male and female are involved in building the nest, incubating the eggs, and feeding the young.  They build a half cup nest out of twigs broken from the tips of tree branches.  These twigs are glued together with saliva to the inside wall of a chimney, hollowed-out tree or other cavity.

Chimney swift breeding time…

The female normally lays three to five white eggs with an incubation period of 18-21 days.  The hatchlings are pink, and completely naked at birth.  They have sharp claws which enable them to cling to textured surfaces.  Within a few days, black pinfeathers begin to appear, and within 8-10 days these feathers unfurl.  The young are able to climb even before their feathers emerge.  By 15-17 days of age, their eyes begin to open. By the time the baby swifts are 21 days old, they will cling tightly to the nest or chimney wall, rear back and flap their wings rapidly until they are out of breath.  This is important exercise to strengthen their wings for flight.  Twenty-eight to 30 days after hatching, the young swifts will leave the safety of the nest for their first flight.

At the end of the breeding season, the swift’s communal instincts peak prior to fall migration. When it’s almost time to migrate, hundreds, even thousands gather together at suitable roost sites before the time is right for their long flight back to Peru.

Chimney swifts are approximately five inches in length and have a dark, sooty, brown body with a paler throat and upper breast.  The male, female and juvenile all look the same, with the males being slightly heavier on average.  They are built for speed with narrow, slightly bowed, long wings (11”-12”), with short, massive wing bones.  Their wings extend as much as 1.5” beyond the bird’s tail when folded, and their wingtips are pointed, which helps to decrease air turbulence during flight.  They are often confused with bats because of their fast, erratic flight.

We are often asked “What part of the state is Clear Chimney’s Service Area?” To answer the question, let us tell you the various cities and areas we serve. If you are slightly outside of this service area, still give us a call as we can group several customers together into a common service call just for you.

We are headquartered in Harriman, TN. We will travel an hour or so around eastern Tennessee.

From the above map, you will see we service Knoxville TN and all areas within the map.

If you are outside of Clear Chimney’s service area a few miles, you may not know we offer a friends and family discount rate. Since we must travel to you, multiple service calls along the way will qualify for the discount. Simply ask your friends and family to schedule us at the same day or days and get your discount. Also, check out our coupon page for a special gift for you!

As of now, we do not charge a travel fee or mileage for every customer. We do ask you confirm your date with us and cancel any appointments within 48 hours. It waste gas and time for our professionals to get to your house and you are not home. Thanks for your understanding and help.

So, pick up the phone and call (or text) the number at the top of the page and let’s get that chimney clean, safe and protecting your family and investment.

The smoke that escapes from your fireplace into your house is a result of poor drafting (air moving in an upward or downward direction), or something blocking the way of the draft. We often ask why is fireplace smoke in my house?

A poorly, drafting chimney allows smoke from the fireplace to enter the room rather than exhausting it to the outside.  A blockage in the chimney prevents drafting in the same way that a closed nozzle at the end of a hose prevents water flow.  The air being pulled (draft) up your chimney works under the same scientific principles as water flowing in a hose, and it corresponds to the amount of pressure in a water hose.  The only difference is that the air pressure is negative, and the water pressure is positive.  Similar to the way a kinked or plugged hose stops water flow, a poorly drafting chimney is the result of an airflow restriction.

This can be caused by a of multitude of factors such as:  excessive creosote build-up, closed or plugged dampers, improper construction, structural damage, chimney height in relation to peak roof height, home renovations, excessive bird nesting materials in the flue, or even a dirty chimney cap.   The following are some of the possible reasons and solutions for the undesirable fireplace smoke in your house.

Is the Damper Open?

Heat rises, and if your damper is closed, the fireplace smoke will come in the house.  Many people leave the damper closed when the fireplace is not in use.  A common mistake is forgetting to open the damper again before lighting a fire.

The damper is a hinged, metal plate used to seal the fireplace when not in use, and to regulate a fire in the fireplace by controlling the flow of air (draft) coming in the chimney.

To open the damper, you usually have to crouch down and peer upward toward the rear of the fireplace.  A flashlight will help.  A metal lever inside the fireplace controls the damper.  Pushing on the lever opens it, and notches along the length of the lever allow you to adjust the opening to get the draft needed for the fire to burn without fireplace smoke backing into the house. The correct procedure for using a damper is to open it fully before lighting the fire, then close it a few notches after the fire is well under way by moving the lever with a fireplace poker.  If the fireplace smoke begins to come in the house, reopen the damper a notch at a time until the smoking ceases.  After all the embers have burned completely, close the damper.

Open a window

Another common cause of fireplace smoke in the house is insufficient air in the room containing the fireplace. 

Try opening one or two windows in the room a few inches while the fire is burning.  This will increase the draft in your chimney by bringing more air (oxygen) in to the fire, which should allow it to burn hotter.

Energy efficient homes are better insulated and keep out cold drafts; however, a negative side effect is that there is often not enough outside air coming in the house for a fire to burn hot enough to rise through the flue or to cause drafting, which carries that hot air up the chimney.  The chimney flue becomes the source of make-up air so that as air is drawn down the flue, it picks up smoke from the fire and delivers it into the living area.  Cracking a window eliminates this negative pressure.

Grate Placement

The fire must always be made in a grate to provide enough air flow around the logs.  Without a fire grate, the fire will smoke and not get hot enough to ventilate properly, thus bringing fireplace smoke into your house.

Sometimes smokiness is a result of the fire being built too far forward in the fireplace.  This causes smoke to enter the room instead of going up the chimney.  The remedy is to build the fire as far back against the rear wall of the firebox as possible.

Use Seasoned Wood

A fire that appears to smolder or make hissing sounds while burning, most likely has a high water content.  It simply can’t burn hot enough for the hot air to rise up the chimney flue and get replaced by cooler air.  The smoke and gases will not be able to exit the room.

You will have to go without a fire unless you have well-seasoned wood that has been split for a minimum of six months (the longer the better), and stored in a covered and elevated location.  A piece of seasoned wood will be lighter (in weight) than the same size, but green (unseasoned, newly cut) piece of wood.  It will sound hollow when hit against another piece of wood.  Green wood will also be lighter in color and generally have a stronger, fresher smell to it, while seasoned wood will usually appear darker and have little odor.  Seasoned wood can also be identified by cracks on the end of the logs.

Stacked Wood Placement

Build your fire with larger pieces of wood on the bottom, leaving gaps for air to circulate between the wood.  Continue stacking wood with each layer going crisscross to the previous layer, and decreasing in size.  Wad up some newspaper and stick it under small pieces of kindling and wood chips on the top of the stacks of wood, then light the paper.  This will produce a hotter fire more quickly, and it will burn cleaner because smoke won’t have to pass through cold logs.  This method will keep smoke going up the flue and out of the room.

Competing Appliances

Many factors influence a home’s airflow including interior mechanical systems, fuel burning appliances, such as furnaces, fireplaces, wood stoves, and water heaters.

Make sure no exhaust fans (kitchen, bath, attic fans) are running while you have a fire.  Also make sure all of the air vents in the same room as the fireplace are open if you have an air-forced furnace running, or else the return air vent will suck air from the fire, possibly bringing fireplace smoke into the room.  Central vacuums can also create depressurization by removing large volumes of air from the house.

Wind Factors

If you think of your chimney as a straw, in the same way as sucking fluid up through a straw, your fireplace chimney sucks air up through the flue to the outdoors.  If you blow through a straw, the air pressure pushes the fluid out of the straw.  In the same way, strong winds can push air down your chimney causing smoke to enter your house if you are burning a fire in the fireplace.

This can be a real problem in homes that are located in windy areas, such as a beach house.  If that’s the case a cowl on  your flue would be better than a cap.  A chimney cowl is designed to prevent wind blowing the smoke back down into the room below.  They increase the draft of a chimney and prevent back flow.