Summer might not be the perfect time to fire up your chimney, but it is the perfect time for maintaining it. If your chimney and fireplace have a really bad odor, then here are some things that you can try to get rid of. The easiest solution is to consult an expert for a chimney inspection.

Keep The Chimney Aerated

One of the best things you can do to prevent your chimney and your fireplace from smelling bad is to ventilate it. This is the top odor-busting technique and ventilation and fresh air will do all of the work for you. All you need to do, if the weather is nice and it’s not pouring rain outside, is to remove the chimney cap open up the fireplace, and let fresh air ventilate the space.

This will ensure that the fireplace and chimney are well-aired and you’ll smell the difference in no time. It will go from stuffy and putrid to pleasant in no time and you’ll be able to fire the chimney up in minutes. Just keep in mind that it is not recommended to do this if the weather is too windy or rainy outside.

Use Baking Soda

One of the most effective things you can find in your pantry to eliminate the bad smell from the chimney and the fireplace is baking soda. It’s something you can find in your pantry and it gets the job done in no time. All you need for this is some baking soda. Just sprinkle it on the base of your cooled-down fireplace and even drop some on the walls of the chimney and let it sit there for a couple of hours.

You can even leave it overnight and then on the next day, take a sweeping brush and sweep away the remaining baking soda. Your fireplace and chimney will smell clean and fresh and you can even use this hack a couple of days a week to keep it that way.

Clean The Chimney

This one might be obvious, but yes, cleaning the chimney does make a world of a difference in how your fireplace smells. If your chimney hasn’t been cleaned since the beginning of the last winter, then it will reek a lot, so don’t be that person who doesn’t take care of their chimney. It’s easy to clean a chimney without a professional.

You just need one of those long and thin brushes that can reach the top of the chimney flue and you can scrub away the creosote and residue build-up. Your chimney will look, smell, and perform better once you give it a good scrub. Remember, you don’t need to do this every single day. That’s virtually impossible. You can do it once a month or even every two months and you will be good to go.

However, professional chimney cleaning is better as chimney sweep services Upper Marlboro have the right skills and equipment to clean the chimney and the fireplace.

Try Vinegar

Your fireplace and chimney can have that distinct burnt wood smell and it’s not pleasant for the nostrils at all. What you can do to make the odor go away is use the vinegar bowl hack. You need to pour some vinegar into a shallow bowl and leave it in the fireplace for a day or two. Vinegar is also a natural deodorizer and it’s going to help get rid of that smell.

You can even mix vinegar, lemon juice, and a bit of water in a spray bottle and spritz this solution around the room for a pleasant and fresh smell. You can also have some vinegar-saturated towels hanging from the fireplace and this will also get rid of that stink for good.

Use Chimney Plugs

You might not think that it’s a good idea to plug the fireplace, but it prevents the smell from diffusing into other parts of the house. You can use the chimney and fireplace plugs to stop downdrafts.

This will cause the smell to find another route to be ejected out of the house. Remember though, your chimney needs to be cool before you can use a plug to let the odor stay in.

It’s a good hack to contain the odor, especially if there are guests over your house and you don’t have time to clean the fireplace, however, it’s not a permanent solution per se, and you’ll need to resort to other cleaning tips to get rid of the odor. However, it is a good last-minute fix, if you’re in a bind and don’t know what to do about your smelly fireplace and chimney.

However, if you don’t use your fireplace and chimney, blocking up your chimney can help you save on heating and cooling costs.

Use Charcoal

If you want another natural deodorizer for your fireplace and chimney, then charcoal is here to save the day. Charcoal is nature’s magnet and it absorbs odor and impurities from anything. It’s also a cleaning agent.

What you want to do is get a small bucket of charcoal pieces and to accelerate the reaction, use wet newspapers on the bottom of the bucket. Within hours, you’ll see the smell is no more and your fireplace and chimney will smell fresh and clean. It’s one of those quick hacks that do the job when you desperately need it.

Air Purifier To The Rescue

Sometimes, it might be too late for you to stop the smell from penetrating the rest of the room. This can happen, but there’s a way to fix this. You’re going to need an air purifier for this job. An air purifier circulates the stale and foul air and makes it fresh and clean on the other side.

An air purifier is perfect if your house has zero ventilation and you can’t get rid of the smell coming from the fireplace. This will help your house smell fresher and you won’t have to plug your nose.

Look For Damage

The chimney and fireplace can also have cracks in them that allow water and moisture to seep through and cause very foul smells. Since the space in which the fireplace is present is quite small and there’s not a lot of room for ventilation, water can allow mold and fungus to grow and it’s not going to smell good.

So, follow chimney safety rules and inspect the chimney for damage. What you want to do is look for the root of the problem, a.k.a. the damage that is causing water to seep into the chimney in the first place. This means that you might want to get your chimney repaired at some point.

Call A Professional

If you can’t figure out where the smell is coming from or if you’ve tried everything and you’re still stuck in a cloud of putrid burnt wood smell, then it’s probably time to pick up your phone and call in an expert.

Sometimes, you can get to the bottom of the problem and other times, you can’t and this is why you need professional chimney experts to come in and take a look at it. They will identify the problem and you’ll be free from the clutches of the bad smell coming from the fireplace and chimney permanently.

Conclusion

Chimney and fireplace odors are a big no-no and you need to get rid of it before your entire room starts to smell bad. So, follow the tips above and contact chimney contractors Ellicott City for help.