Clean Sweeps of Michigan's Blog

Fire and Candle Safety

Candles complete any dinner party, from pot lucks with friends to romantic dinners for two. They create an ambience that can be either warm and inviting for casual get-togethers or soft and shadowy for romantic evenings. They are essential to have in the household emergency kit, in event of power outages that do not involve gas. They send lovely aromas into the air and provide pretty little nightlights.

Never Leave Candles Burning Unattended

It does not matter how stable they seem or how far away the flame is from flammable things; well, those things matter, but – never walk away from lit candles. They are easy enough to re-light, and they can cause a world of pain for you and your family. Blow them out before you walk away, even if you think you are coming right back.

Everyone is leading busy lives; cell phones are buzzing, texts are flowing in, kids’ plans are changing, dogs need to be fed. That lovely break is over and you are back into a million things. Soon enough, that burning “aromatic-therapy candle” is forgotten. Now it is sitting there lit, and the dogs come first so the cat is restless, and…. on and on it goes.

There Goes The Candle

It is just not worth risking; with kids and pet tails and breezes through open windows, lit candles pose huge fire safety dangers. It is almost laughable that many of us are thinking about chimneys and clothes dryers and scheduling sweeps to do professional cleanings. Generally careless with candles, all of us sometimes fail to fully appreciate their dangers and make those services even more necessary.

Be present when using your candles, and make sure you do not have a tragedy occur simply because you forgot about a candle. Give us a call if you would like more fire prevention information.

Types of Animals that Could Nest in Your Chimney

There you are, sitting with the family in the living room when all of a sudden you hear a noise in your chimney. Maybe it was just leaves, right? You light a fire and you hear a sound and the panic of something trying to get out…what is going on?! Well, you just may have a critter taking up residence in your flue. The real question is what type of animal can get into your chimney?

First and foremost, the only way an animal can get into your chimney is if you do not have a chimney cap. All things considered, these are very inexpensive and a must have for any homeowner with a working fireplace. In addition to stopping animals, the cap also prevents debris and water from getting into the chimney and causing structural damage. But, I digress, let’s figure out what is in that chimney!

Chimney Swifts are a likely inhabitant, as they migrate and live in chimneys during the offseason. Because federal law protects these birds, you are unable to do anything to clean out the chimney until the birds leave the chimney.

In addition to chimney swifts, other flying creatures, such as bats, owls and a variety of other birds, would be more than happy to take up residence in an open chimney. If an animal entered the flue while the damper was open and it is now closed, you will more than likely hear wings’ furiously flapping as it tries to figure its way out of this entrapment.

Raccoons often use chimneys to get out of the cold and will nest in there if allowed. Unlike many other types of clawed creatures, raccoons are usually able to get up and down the chimney with relative ease. On the other hand, animals like squirrels can get into the chimney, but have a quite a challenge getting back out. You will often hear panicked scratching sounds as they try to figure their way out of this conundrum.