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Welcome back to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio, right here on AM nine 20. The answer in this segment. We're talking chimney sweeps. Is a chimney sweep more than just a character in the movie Mary Poppins. Anytime I think of a chimney sweep, I think of the movie Mary Poppins, but I believe they provide a very, very necessary service for keeping all of our families safe and in my particular case, keeping rain out of my chimney, which is where I prefer the rain to be.
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Without further ado, we have our first. Chimney Sweep on as a guest. We've got Brian Hop, uh, Ben Hoppen Brower, uh, who is the owner of Southern Chimneys. And I just have to acknowledge as we get started, uh, that Ben, I was a huge fan of your father. He was a lender and many of you who are real estate agents in metro Atlanta might very well remember the name Steve Hoppen Brower.
And when I realized, Ben, that you were Steve's son, I loved it. I felt an immediate connection to you. So welcome and thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks. Thanks for having me Cleve. So, uh, in the opening we said is a chimney sweep more than a character in the movie Mary Poppins. And it turns out that it, uh, chimney Sweep is more, is actually a live person who performs a valuable service.
But I want to know if you know the words to the first chorus of Jim Jimmie. I'm probably gonna go with Chi Chiru. Okay, so Chi Timmery Chi Timmery, Chi Chi. Marie as sweep is as lucky. As lucky can be. How's that? I practiced before this. How was that? I'm impressed. Not impressed. Now, now that we are all in the mood, or either whoever was listening to the show has gone to listen to something else, let's jump into some fireplace stuff.
Now. When I first started in real estate, people, we'd get home inspections and they'd say, you need to get a chimney sweep or an inspection company to come out. And I thought, that's a bunch of hooey. You know, chimneys are, are, are, are meant to. They're meant to work. They don't need any maintenance. I don't ever remember somebody maintaining the chimney at my house when we were growing up, but the reality is, Is that you need to be careful with your chimney.
And so I'd like to you to talk about, just quickly from a burning standpoint, what you need to be aware of when you're, you have a gas fireplace or a fireplace with gas logs and what you need to be worried about when you burn R wood, because I think there's different problems, uh, different issues that are caused with each one of those.
So tell us what you're thinking there. So you might think that there's a lot of differences between the two, but I'll tell you that they both carbon monoxide. Okay. So whether it's burning wood, And carbon dioxide is a big issue, um, with poisoning in the home. Um, specifically with wood, you've got other issues.
Car, um, carbon buildup that can ignite chimney fires. Got it. That's, so that's what, that's what I was thinking of. So let me make sure I understand this. You're saying that now. So, uh, uh, an appropriately functioning fireplace does not. Allow carbon monoxide to come into the house. So what you're saying, I guess, is that if the chimney's not functioning correctly, then carbon monoxide, whether you have a gas fireplace or a wood burning fireplace, can come into the house.
I didn't know that. That's exactly right. Um, bo both, whether it's, whether it's gas logs or or wood burning, both emit toxic fumes that can be emitted into the living space. Um, and it's something that when you're buying a home, you know, you say, Hey, it just looks like there's some gas logs there. We're okay here.
But whether it's wood or gas, they both pose the same problems, issues and risks. Um, in a home. Something that a lot of lot of folks don't think about is that they, they see the fireplace and when they walk into that living room and they're looking at that home and they're looking to buy that home, they see that fireplace and they think that's the only thing going into their chimney.
Um, but a lot of times if you go down into the basement or down into the crawl space, um, there's water heaters and furnaces also venting into the chiney. Also putting off carbon monoxide. And that's something that even home inspectors miss 90% of the time. Um, but it's something to be aware of because once you purchase that home that that could cost you tens of thousands of dollars to, to fix or, you know, rectify that situation.
Or maybe you need to upgrade your system and you, you find something that you can vent alternatively out of the chimney. Yep. Um. But these are, these are a lot of things that just get overlooked in real estate transactions. And so if you come in and you do an inspection on a chimney, you're inspecting everything that that goes up through the chimney and out the top of it.
I did not know that there were more than just the flu pipe for the chimney itself sometimes, and they're, in my case, The other flu pipes go up through the roof, through the atan, through the roof. But that is, that's such an interesting thing. So those of you who are listening to the show, in fact those of you who just joined us, you're listening to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio right here on AM nine 20.
My name is Cleve Gaddis and I'm joined on the line here today by Ben Hoppen Brower, who is the owner of Southern Chimneys. He's a chimney sweep and uh, by the way, has done work at my house and does good work. Folks, I'll let him tell you how to get in touch with, I'll let him tell you how to get in touch with him real soon.
But for those of you who listen regularly, you know, I'm in the process of selling my house. I had a home inspection. The home inspector says, Hey, these gas logs are not a arranged correctly, and that could be a carbon monoxide potential problem, and it looks like your flu pipe is really dirty. So I called and Ben came on out and they did an amazing cleaning.
I want to be clear. Though the, the threat of, of the, the, the issue of having flammable, uh, material build up in your fireplace that only comes from burning wood. Is that correct? That is correct actually. Okay. Okay. Yep. With wood burning, um, you know, whether you're burning wood or pellets or, you know, in all different kinds of, you know, areas, they're, they're burning different things, but they, it does put on a carbon buildup that builds up on a chimney.
Yep. It takes, you know, it takes time. Yep. Um, Sometimes it can take 20 years. Yep. Uh, I've also been to some homes where it's just been one year of, of a homeowner burning the wrong types of wood. Yep. Whether it's vents or what the different, the wrong type of wood. And within one year they've completely destroyed a chimney and has have created a, a real fire hazard, you know, from within months.
Absolutely. For some folks, it takes 20 years to get to that point. Um, but it's definitely something that needs to be looked at, especially before you're buying a home. And when they say chimney sweep and literally, uh, the character in Mary Poppins went around with a broom. I mean, they are literally sweeping the stuff off the walls.
And so in your case, I think you're more vacuuming it off of the walls and keeping everything clean, but maybe with a big brush and a vacuum to get all the dust out or something like that. But you literally are cleaning all that built up, I think it's called creosote, uh, in the, uh, in the, in the chimney.
That's right. And, and it's, um, so we have high powered vacuums. Okay. Um, that just can't go buy at Home Depot or anything. You know, if you want somebody, the main thing about anybody could, I guess anybody could clean a chimney. The, the, the issue is can you get somebody that can clean your chimney without dust in your whole home with, with crea?
So, and with soot and dust all over your, your living room and your house. So yeah. The professional is, is able, we don't just use vacuums. Yeah. Um, to. Clean the chimney. We actually abrasively cleaned the flu. Got it. The drill cleaning system. Oh, it's a big deal. The vacuums are there just to control the dust that's coming out so that we don't dust your house out and make a, a big old, nasty mess.
Yeah, I didn't notice any dust anywhere. And uh, you said anybody could clean a chimney. I'm gonna push back on that and say no. Anybody could not cuz I would not try that under any, any circumstances. Now go ahead. But not everybody can clean a chimney and keep your home clean at the same time that that is true.
No, you're exactly right. That's exactly, exactly right. I would not have been able to do that either. Now, in my case, the home inspector actually found that my, um, rain pan, I'm not sure what it's called, it sits on the top of the chimney, uh, above the roof, that it was really rusted and worn out. And so, You guys were able to help me replace that and even very quickly had one that was custom made to go right back on in place of the one that was custom made.
What other kind of things do you find when you're servicing chimneys that you have to make, make have, that you have to do from a repair standpoint? So there are two types of chimneys. There's pre-fabricated chimneys, which is what you had, and there's masonry chimneys, which are just a traditional masonry or a brick built chimney.
Okay, so on, on your type of chimney. That was a, that was a prefabricated chimney. We have what we call a chase cover. A chimney chase. The chase is the, is the, the wooden structure that holds metal pipe, that is your chimney. Got it. That chimney chase cover needs to be replaced every 10 to 15 years, you mean, so, so not every 25 years like I did.
Well, you know, something a long time. Yeah. And if you too long, it can cause tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage that doesn't get uncovered until that home transaction happens. Mm-hmm. And, and in many cases, and I'm sorry to interrupt, but if you've got water leaking into your chimney, especially if it goes all the way down to the basement, you might not ever even see it.
You won't ever see it. Yep. Um, and then by the time you do see it, um, The whole reframing has to be done. Your entire fireplace system has to be replaced. Yep. So it's better to be proactive on those kind of things. And when you're buying a home and you notice a little bit of rust up there, it's a good idea to have that thing changed out.
Love it. Now on, on masonry chimneys, when we, when we required chimney caps, When there's no chimney cap, which the majority of homes don't have, we find birds, bird, everything and all kinds. I've even seen a, um, a hundred year old petrified owl down in Whoa, whoa, wow. Hey, listen, we've only got about a minute and left in the segment today.
Tell listeners how they can reach you if they'd like to have you come out and service their chimney or inspect it, whatever they need. Sure the best way to get us is, uh, shoot us an email. Um, you can find us online@umsouthernchimneys.com. Okay. Uh, our email is, uh, info southern chimneys.com and our phone number is (678) 744-4046.
Love it. And they come with a Cleve Gaddis certified seal of approval. There is no such thing, but I've just given you my seal of approval Now in the United States. Turns out that a. An inspection of the fireplace, and we've only got about 30 seconds left is mandatory, meaning when a real estate transaction takes place, according to N F P A two 11, which is a ni National Fire Protection Association, or whatever it is, you're supposed to have an inspection.
So if you're listening from home and you're not having regular chimney inspections, you probably need to do that. Ben, thank you so very much for joining us on the show today. We're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, what do you do if you can't attend the closing in person? Do you have to push off the closing?
Does it all fall through and downsizing? Is it only the older folks who are downsizing or are people just like you downsizing too? Stick with us. We'll be back.