In the spirit of coming to terms with home ownership, we recently had a chimney sweep come out to, well, clean out our chimney.  We had been aware that it needed to be done as we had had a guy out last spring to address an issue with our furnace (soot was exhausting out the air intake valve in the basement) and when he pulled the exhaust tube away from the chimney we discovered a buckets-worth of crap (soot, brick and mortar dust and pieces) in the elbow.  So we new there was possible damage and definite need for cleaning and assessment. Read more “Sir, There’s a Santa Lodged in Your Chimney”