I have a wood burning fireplace and had someone out today to inspect/sweep the chimney so I could safely use it this winter. Before they arrived, I noticed that the damper seemed to be more difficult to open than usual but thought that they would figure it out while they were doing the sweep. They were here for about 10 minutes before telling me that everything looked good and that it didn't need a cleaning.
This evening, I started a fire and immediately my house filled up with smoke. After putting the fire out, I looked up with a flashlight and noticed that the damper won't open at all even when the handle is pushed in all the way. To me, it seems like the damper is out of alignment with the flue so that the bottom edge catches on the rim of the flue. Considering this, I have no idea how they could have possible inspected the chimney since the flue is physically un-openable.
Is this something I can repair on my own? I tried messing with it a little bit but I'm not sure how to go about getting the damper re-aligned. I have never had this problem in past seasons and I'm not sure how it could have gotten kicked out of alignment sitting over the summer.
This evening, I started a fire and immediately my house filled up with smoke. After putting the fire out, I looked up with a flashlight and noticed that the damper won't open at all even when the handle is pushed in all the way. To me, it seems like the damper is out of alignment with the flue so that the bottom edge catches on the rim of the flue. Considering this, I have no idea how they could have possible inspected the chimney since the flue is physically un-openable.
Is this something I can repair on my own? I tried messing with it a little bit but I'm not sure how to go about getting the damper re-aligned. I have never had this problem in past seasons and I'm not sure how it could have gotten kicked out of alignment sitting over the summer.