Review Our Business
Schedule an appointment TODAY!

Clean Sweeps of Michigan's Blog

Outdoor Kitchens — Pay Attention!

Enjoying Your Outdoor Kitchen

 Indoor kitchens, where there are distractions but little wind to blow out pilot lights and flames, can put you at risk for a house fire. It is easy to see how those perils are compounded by wind, debris and the relaxation of the outdoors. To truly enjoy your outdoor kitchen, you need to use it safely and maintain it in good condition. Some of this is solely on you, the homeowner and other parts of safe maintenance should be left to a certified professional.

Enjoying Outdoor Kitchen - Ann Arbor MI - Clean Sweep & Air Ducts of Michigan

Enjoying Outdoor Kitchen – Ann Arbor MI – Clean Sweep & Air Ducts of Michigan

Use It Safely

There is no enjoyment to be found in a gas line explosion or a fire in the yard. While outdoor kitchens reduce the chances of poisoning from gas without flames to consume it, they increase the likelihood of outdoor fires. Stove flames can more easily be blown out and fire-bearing sparks from built-in grills can ignite un-raked yards and newspaper stacks. Keep all flammable material well away from the heat source.

Most homeowners use their outdoor kitchens to entertain and relish the season. This of course, is the point. However, one side effect of all that enjoyment is that sometimes, we lose sight of the danger. Never leave an open flame unattended or with only children outdoors. Always make sure your outdoor kitchen is inspected annually by a certified professional.

Even conscientious outdoor cooks can fail to recognize the importance of periodic dis-assembly and inspection of built-in ovens and grills. With welded components, these fire boxes need the same attention as the one in your indoor system. If a second fireplace is also part of your outdoor kitchen, that system makes inspection all the more important.

Enjoy It Thoroughly

There is nothing unsafe about outdoor kitchens as long as they are properly constructed and kept clean, fully functional, and in mind. Like all other unintended fires, ones that start in outdoor kitchens actually start with carelessness. Regular inspection and maintenance ensure that your outdoor kitchen is ready to be safely used. Appreciating it fully means respecting the potential dangers it can pose and preventing them from ruining either the party or the yard.

 

Proper Chimney Care

Worth being clear about, proper chimney maintenance involves:

Proper Chimney Care - Ann Arbor MI - Clean Sweeps of MI

  • the fireplace
  • the flue liner
  • the mortar
  • the chase
  • the crown
  • the flashing
  • the cap
  • the whole kit and caboodle

The entire system has to be kept clean, in largely undamaged condition, and up to speed with current codes. It is not a simple task, and it is one that homeowners are absolutely advised to turn over to CSIA certified chimney sweeps. Critical to home safety, proper chimney care is worth every penny, and most homeowners are surprised by how few it takes.

Chimneys are significant expenditures in any budget they fit into, and repairs and replacements can be costly. When labor alone can run from $60 to $150 per linear foot, even pre-fab components and above-roofline work gets expensive. Maintaining chimneys properly is well worth the amount spent by home owners on the regularly scheduled services of chimney sweeps.

Chimney Inspections

If a clean chimney in good condition were not essential to home safety, homeowners could let it slide. As it is, though, chimney fires account for too many house fires, and poor draft accounts for too much carbon monoxide poisoning. Regular inspections of chimneys by qualified professionals plays a huge part in their proper maintenance and safe use.

It is often the inability to inspect the condition of the flue liner or the cause of warping that gives away an incompetent sweep. In all likelihood, virtually anyone can be simply trained to just “sweep” the chimney, but it is the experience and expertise of a professional that enables them to quite a bit more than just the tedious task of cleaning a chimney. Responsible homeowners need to find a certified sweep to handle both the regular cleaning and the competent inspection of their chimneys.

Recent Posts

Find Posts About