The Damage is In - Chimney Fire Results

[weeks001]

A month or so ago I posted about my first chimney fire. Today I was finally able to get the chimney inspected (I did not use the chimney in the time between). Bottom line up front: WOW. The damage was extensive! Multiple cracks throughout the length of the chimney tiles. But the most concerning part was the state of disrepair the flue was in. I bought the house in July. The home inspector said the chimney was good to go. Apparently the previous owner (my father in-law) never had the chimney swept. The guy doing the cleaning vacuumed up over 20 GALONS of creosote build-up. He came in with a 30 gal. vacuum and had to stop to make sure it wasn't completeley clogged. The cleaning and inspection took over 5 hours. I am so lucky I didn't burn the house to the ground.
A word of caution to everyone out there, rookie or veteran, have your chimney inspected and cleaned AT LEAST once a year. Never trust the opinion of someone who does not specialize in that field.

This has been an expensive lesson, but it could have been much worse.

 

[bholler]

Your insurance company should pay to have the chimney relined it is fire damage. And once a year is a good general rule but that depends on how much you use it. There are many open fireplaces that we do once every 5 years and they are usually not very dirty then either. There are also a few we do multiple times a year so you need to figure out what works for you with how much you use it

 

[fire_man]

It sure could have ended much worse, good thing you did not take the advice of those that would say a chimney fire just "cleans her out good".

I learned my lesson on home inspectors, too. First of all don't make my mistake and get a referral from a real estate broker.

 

[joescho]

Its tough being a home inspector - you have to know about everything... When I bought my house the inspector wrote up the report on theback porch - a few big bees flying around we noticed - turned out to be carpenter bees in the porch (of course I found that out a month later!)

 

[GENECOP]

Thank God you have common sense....I know it's different but my 6" flue takes me about 2 -3 hours to take apart, cleanout, and put back together....I am sure I service it more than I have to but what the heck makes me sleep well at night.....

 

[Motor7]

20 gallons? Holeey crap!

 

[bholler]

the worst one I have cleaned so far was 65 gallons. That was a nightmare cleaning they were really lucky they didn't light it off because it would have been a blast furnace of a fire.

 

[pen]

Thanks for the update and sharing.

Only way to enjoy wood burning is when it's safe. Glad to hear you are on your way to being there.

 

[razerface]

I would get my money back from that inspector

 

[bholler]

No one should ever trust a home inspector to inspect a chimney unless the have a camera to scan it (which I have never seen one have) There really is no other way to inspect the inside of a chimney correctly. In my experience most home inspectors really don't know enough about chimneys to give an evaluation.

 

[bholler]

Really to the op I am glad nothing bad happened really. Some cracked liners really isn't to bad they may have been cracked before this fire as well. Now just submit it to your insurance and get it fixed right it should work much better with a good insulated liner in it anyway.

 

[Seanm]

First of all don't make my mistake and get a referral from a real estate broker

Thats painting us with a bit of a wide brush dont you think? I like to think that the good inspectors that Ive connected buyers to and the wett inspectors that have been hired by my clients are getting good quality expertise. Sorry you had a bad experience but your statement was to general and rather insulting.

 

[fire_man]

I absolutely stand by that statement. Sorry if it offends, but its the law around here. I got badly burned before the law was passed and I think its a good law. Evidently enough others got burned that MA decided to do something about it.

If There Is A Potential Conflict Of Interest With Sales Agents Recommending Home Inspectors, Why Doesn't The Government Do Something About It? A home inspector licensing law was passed in Massachusetts and became effective May, 2001. This law, to some degree, does address the potential conflict of interest of real estate agents referring home inspectors. The new law amended Chapter 112 section 87YY of the MA Real Estate Broker and Salesperson Licensing Law. It prohibits real estate brokers and salespersons from directly recommending a specific home inspection company or home inspector. Instead, upon request, the agents must provide a complete list of licensed home inspectors prepared by the Board of Home Inspectors. (So far, MA is the only state which has this provision.)

 

[Beer Belly]

Glad nobody was injured.....look at it this way....a fresh start with a new fireplace.....damaged the stove, right , and need a new one.

 

[smokedragon]

20 gallons? Holeey crap!

Yikes, just Yikes!!

In my experience most home inspectors really don't know enough about chimneys to give an evaluation.

A really good home inspector will advise you to contact a specialist if there is an issue that is out of his realm of expertise, but many just "wing it" and hope you don't know any better. There are some good ones out there though, so don't paint with too broad a brush

 

[Grisu]

I side with Sean on this one as we got a great recommendation for a home inspector from our realtor. That's what he wrote:

" The fireplace chimney should be swept and inspected by a C.S.I.A. certified chimney sweep prior to
operation. It was observed to be dirty but with no obvious broken tile as seen from the firebox opening. The damper
operated normally."

Quite frankly, I would always get a chimney, whose history I don't know, swept and looked over by a certified sweep. As when I buy a used car, I have trusted mechanic go over it. Just common sense.

 

[Seanm]

I absolutely stand by that statement. Sorry if it offends, but its the law around here. I got badly burned before the law was passed and I think its a good law. Evidently enough others got burned that MA decided to do something about it.

If There Is A Potential Conflict Of Interest With Sales Agents Recommending Home Inspectors, Why Doesn't The Government Do Something About It? A home inspector licensing law was passed in Massachusetts and became effective May, 2001. This law, to some degree, does address the potential conflict of interest of real estate agents referring home inspectors. The new law amended Chapter 112 section 87YY of the MA Real Estate Broker and Salesperson Licensing Law. It prohibits real estate brokers and salespersons from directly recommending a specific home inspection company or home inspector. Instead, upon request, the agents must provide a complete list of licensed home inspectors prepared by the Board of Home Inspectors. (So far, MA is the only state which has this provision.)

Fair enough Fire_man. I stand by mine as well and also thanks for posting your reply. In Canada we have to recommend more than one which in our small area usually means two or three guys. Fortunately for us and the public the inspectors are getting licensed through a governing body and through pressure from insurance companies and the public to become wett certified as well. I pay attention to the businesses that i send my clients to to see if they are happy with their service. If they are not I quickly deal with it otherwise I would lose business. They say bad reputations travel quicker than good ones! Another thing Ive liked here is that if we are to receive any reward financially or otherwise from any of the parties that we recommend or refer we have to disclose to them in writing or lose our license.

 

[fire_man]

Seanm: Back to chimney inspections, my inspector never even looked at my two chimneys (fortunately they were ok). I transferred jobs out of state and was not present during the home inspection, shame on me but I figured he was representing me since I was paying him. He stated my roof looked good for at least 5 more years - well it leaked 2 months after we moved in, the roofers could not believe he missed how bad the shingles were.

Home inspectors were not even licensed in MA until 1999. Any joe blow could sell themselves as an inspector with no formal training and believe me they did. Sounds like you are a conscientious Real Estate Agent, unfortunately during the boom years many less conscientious ones popped up around here.

 

[potentialburner]

Is it true that if I burn gas logs (propane) I don't need to worry about chimney cleaning?

What if I burn wood very sporadically for a couple of years, and then switch to gas? Could the gas logs cause creosote from the previous wood burning to ignite?

 

[potentialburner]

Thats painting us with a bit of a wide brush dont you think? I like to think that the good inspectors that Ive connected buyers to and the wett inspectors that have been hired by my clients are getting good quality expertise. Sorry you had a bad experience but your statement was to general and rather insulting.

The fact of the matter is that home inspectors who have a reputation for holding up or killing deals by finding lots of serious stuff, don't get recommended by real estate agents

 

[fire_man]

You hit the nail on the heat. The last thing I remember my real estate agent saying when she recommended the inspector was "all the girls in the office just love him". Little did I know.....

 

[bholler]

A really good home inspector will advise you to contact a specialist if there is an issue that is out of his realm of expertise, but many just "wing it" and hope you don't know any better. There are some good ones out there though, so don't paint with too broad a brush

I didn't mean to say there are not good ones i know there are i just haven't come across any that have impressed me but you are right i may have spoken to broadly

 

[Seanm]

The fact of the matter is that home inspectors who have a reputation for holding up or killing deals by finding lots of serious stuff, don't get recommended by real estate agents

I have had many deals where an inspector has found things that end up in the buyer not purchasing a home. This is good news in the long run! Less surprises after closing for the buyer the better. Creating long term relationships in the community is a good thing for everyone. In the end if we are doing our job they end up buying a house anyways and are happy that they were able to walk away from a deal that otherwise would have cost them money that they werent anticipating.