Every winter we get called out to the same thing: white chalky staining bleeding through the brick on the outside of a chimney, six or eight feet up. The homeowner wants to know if there’s a leak. Sometimes there is. Often enough, it turns out to be the...
The five-gallon bucket A customer in Dale City called us for a routine sweep on a wood stove insert that came with the house. Previous owner installed it himself some time in the Reagan administration. “Burns great,” the new owner told us. “We use it...
The fire that started in the flue A customer in Woodbridge called us two winters ago, more embarrassed than scared — at first. Christmas morning. Wrapping paper everywhere. Instead of bagging it up, the family fed it into the fireplace, sheet after sheet, watching it...
The house you almost bought A young family called us out to their brand-new house last winter. Closed in October. First cold snap in November. Went to light a fire. Smoke everywhere. Not a little curl of it — smoke pouring into the living room, the kids coughing, the...
