Fireplace Cleaning in Sherman Oaks, Down to the Damper

A fireplace cleaning covers the part of the system you can see from the room: the firebox floor and walls, the grate, the glass doors and their frame, the damper plate and its seat, and the smoke shelf just above. On a wood fireplace that means clearing ash and the soot crust on the back wall. On gas logs or a gas fireplace it means the logs, the embers, the burner area and the glass, cleaned with products the maker allows. Cleaning puts our hands and lights on every surface, which makes it a good time to check what NFPA 211 and the building code care about at the hearth. Is the firebox lining cracked or missing mortar? Does the damper close fully? Is the hearth extension in front of the opening intact? Tile that has cracked or lifted on a hearth can let embers reach the subfloor below.

Ashes deserve their own line, because they start house fires long after the fireplace goes quiet. Coals buried in ash can stay hot for days. The method fire services recommend is a metal container with a tight lid, set outside on a noncombustible surface and well away from the house, decks and fences. During the long dry season in Sherman Oaks, that last part matters even more. We leave the firebox empty, with the ash taken away or bagged as you prefer. If we find a problem during the cleaning, such as a cracked refractory panel in a factory-built fireplace, we stop and show you rather than clean around it. Factory-built units take the maker's listed replacement panels only, so we note the model and serial number from the rating plate and the right part can be ordered.

Glass doors are one of the most common add-ons to a masonry fireplace, and one of the most misused. Many are meant to stay open while a wood fire burns hard and to close only as it dies down, because tempered glass can crack under direct flame and a shut door starves the fire of air. Some are rated for closed burning, and the label or manual says which. During a cleaning we look for that label, check the frame's gasket and fasteners, and tell you how your doors are meant to be used. Factory-built fireplaces, the metal fireboxes common in Valley houses from the 1970s on, have a listing label too, usually inside the firebox or behind the lower grille. It sets the clearances and the accessories the unit allows. A cleaner who scrapes off or covers that label creates a problem at the next inspection.

A plain fireplace cleaning is quoted when you book, based on whether it is wood, gas logs or a gas fireplace with glass, and whether doors and screens are included. When the flue also needs work, the cleaning is part of the chimney sweep from $220, so you do not pay twice for one visit. Most owners in Sherman Oaks book before the holidays or before listing a house, when a clean firebox reads as a cared-for fireplace in photos. If you are preparing for a sale, ask about pairing the cleaning with a Level 2 inspection, which escrow often asks for anyway. We keep the work to the fireplace and the floor around it, with drop cloths laid from the entry door to the hearth and a HEPA vacuum running at the opening.