Everyone gathered into the family room to rest after hours of eating appetizers, snacks, meals and of course, desert. I stayed in the kitchen to clean up the rest of the dishes. As I stood by the sink, I could hear a variety of conversations, some repeatable and others…not so much. A voice came over everyone else’s and said, “I’m cold!” It was Grandma, an 80+ year old woman, who at that age is always cold.
“Yeah, so am I”, “me too”. Okay, now that caught my attention. As I dried my hands in the already wet hand towel, I stood in the doorway and saw everyone searching for the source of the cold. “Here it is!” One of the kids had their arm in the fireplace. (No, it wasn’t turned on yet)
As I made my way to the fireplace, I could feel the air at my feet get cooler as I got approached it. I stuck my head inside the empty fireplace space and could feel the cold breeze coming in. Of course, a 2-hour topic erupted with everyone from 1 to 100 years old, diagnosing the cause.
Even though many interesting ideas were shared, I decided to call Superior Chimney to take a look at the chimney. You know how it goes, the one time I didn’t service my chimney in September, and something happens. This could have been prevented. Anyway, they installed a fireplace damper or a chimney top damper. I really liked the one installed as it is a fireplace damper and a chimney cap closer in one. It totally eliminated my cold draft, and breeze coming into my home and it said it can also help to control odors back drafting in.
Take a lesson from me, get ready for the next holiday by getting your chimney inspected. Happy Holidays!
