Animal stuck in your chimney?
Scratching, movement, chirping. It is not a problem that waits, and it is not one to poke at from the firebox.
What not to do
- Do not light a fire to drive it out. It is cruel, it does not work, and it fills the house with smoke.
- Do not open the damper to look. Whatever is up there comes down into the room.
- Do not reach in. A frightened animal in a confined space bites.
- Do not wait it out. A trapped animal that dies in the flue becomes a smell you cannot get rid of, and a blockage.
What we do
We inspect the chimney, work out what is actually causing the noise, and recommend the next step without doing unnecessary damage to the chimney or the fireplace. Sometimes it is an animal. Sometimes it is debris, a failed damper, or a cap that came loose in a storm.
Once it is resolved we check the cap and the other entry points, because an open flue that let one animal in will let the next one in too. That part is cheap, and it is the reason this does not have to happen twice.
A note on nesting season
In Washington, chimney swifts and several other species are protected, and there are times of year when a nest with young in it cannot simply be removed. If that is the situation we will tell you so and explain the options, instead of doing something that puts you on the wrong side of the law.
We are not a wildlife removal company and we do not pretend to be. What we do is establish what is in there, resolve what is ours to resolve, and tell you plainly when the job belongs to someone else.
Call — do not book this one online.
Anything trapped in a flue is time-sensitive, and a form sits in an inbox.