And it begins

Thursday, 9:38 pm

By Kate

Sep

13

2007

I am freezing! My body literally began shivering a little while ago—I knew it was time to pull out the fuzzy socks and my fuzzy sweatshirt. And it’s only 55 degrees out! But the house is 68 degrees and, after several months of it being in the upper 70’s to mid 80s in here, that’s cold. And gonna get colder. I’m not turning on the furnace and I can’t fire up the stove yet and don’t want to, anyway. I should be well conditioned by the time the end of October rolls around.

This evening I spoke with two chimney sweeps. I don’t dare start a fire in the stove until that’s been completed. It was a surprise to me when they both said they could come out sometime late next week. Last year when I called in August, they were booked solid through the middle of November. One of the sweeps started making noises about the possibility of finding damage requiring a new chimney liner. Yes, I know that is always a possibility. I’ve had to replace a chimney liner before and let me tell you it isn’t cheap. So, I’d really rather not think about that right now.

On the other hand, I had an incident in March that made me wonder. There was nothing that overtly suggested a chimney fire, but there was a sudden and loud blowback into the wood stove one night. That could have been strong wind catching the chimney at just the right angle, but it’s also something that happens with a chimney fire. You’d think I’d know if there was one, but I guess that’s not always the case. It could have left a damaged chimney liner with little fanfare.

The other chimney sweep said he’d be happy to come out and do the job without elaborating on all the possibilities. Now, I know that if he found anything dangerous, he’d tell me, but he wasn’t into (gleefully) telling me all the horrible things he might (and hoped to) find. I think I’ll choose chimney sweep number two and keep my fingers crossed.