Posts Tagged ‘creosote’
Neglected Properties
It’s a shame that the neighboring houses around ours have fallen to such neglect. It reflects badly on the value of our property. I wish those responsible would put in a little effort to maintain the integrity of their homes.
I think maybe birch bark isn’t the most durable choice for roofing material. That unit is probably a little drafty.
I’m going to light a fire under the owners to inspire them to make some repairs to those houses before the tenants start spreading bad rumors about our neighborhood.
After Sunday’s initial excitement of making progress on the garden terrace using reclaimed fence posts, Cyndie pointed out the creosote smell of the wood posts. It reminded her of the railroad tracks by her grandma’s house.
A little research has us both feeling disinclined to proceed with burying the chemically treated posts in the same dirt we plan to grow our future food.
It will be a lot more work, but I’ve suggested making a low retaining wall of rocks. A more feasible alternative that holds promise would be to use the cedar planks we removed from the deck last fall. Although much of the ends of those boards were rotting, there is probably enough solid wood to serve our purposes.
Whatever we end up choosing, I hope it will look classy enough to offset the derelict birdhouses around here that threaten to give this place a bad reputation.
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Important Inspection
We had our fireplace and chimney inspected yesterday. Closely inspected, this time, with a video camera dropped down the chimney even. In the 3 years we have lived here, we have had the chimney cleaned twice.
The first time was just to give us a fresh start, and the second time was because we wanted him back to follow up on some cracked fire bricks he said he could replace. Unfortunately, he didn’t do any thorough inspecting, so all we really got was a cleaner flue and false sense of security.
Having used this fireplace for 3 years now, I’m aware of areas where the firebox seems a bit worn out. When I spotted an ad in the local free paper for a discount price on fireplace inspections, I suggested to Cyndie we call them up.
They were more than happy to schedule an appointment with us, even though (we later learned) the advertised service was for electric fireplaces only. They kindly referred us to a company that could look at our old Kozy Heat and would do a video inspection of the flue.
I’m sure glad we followed through with this, because the guy discovered evidence indicating there had likely been a chimney fire at some point, and one of the results of that is a cracked flue lining. 
He pulled some scary looking chunks of creosote from the smoke shelf, which he said showed signs of having melted and boiled, which occurs with fire in the chimney.
We will be making an appointment to have a new lining installed, and until then, will be burning no fires in there.
I sure am grateful that I spotted that initial ad which prompted me to initiate this process. The fireplace is one of the areas of a home that should never be left to neglect.
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Relative Something 