Custom homes in the town, around Lake Butler Estates and Lake Down Estates, often have large masonry fireplaces, sometimes more than one flue per house. Big masonry fireplaces with generous smoke chambers collect more debris and soot than a standard unit, and outdoor fireplaces on lanais collect leaves as well.
How a neglected chimney is cleaned
Clear the firebox
Old ash, debris and loose material come out first.
Open the smoke path
The damper, smoke shelf and anything resting on them are cleared.
Clean the smoke chamber and flue
Soot and brushable creosote are brushed out with tools suited to the liner.
Clear the top
A soot-clogged cap screen is cleaned so the chimney can breathe.
Look at what’s underneath
Once clean, cracks, gaps, rust and water marks become visible.
Deep cleaning in Windermere
From Lake Butler Estates to the rest of Windermere, a first cleaning after years of disuse is usually the most thorough one the chimney will need.
Where this page applies
This page covers the Town of Windermere. Dr. Phillips and Bay Hill are outside town limits; Dr. Phillips has its own area page.
The smoke chamber: the part most people never see
Above the damper, the smoke chamber funnels smoke from the wide firebox into the narrow flue. Its sloped walls catch soot, and in masonry fireplaces the smoke shelf at its base collects debris. Neither is visible from the room, which is why a chimney can look clean from the hearth and still be heavily sooted a few feet up. See how the smoke chamber works.
Deep cleaning or a sweep?
- Used every winter, checked yearly: yearly sweeping
- Idle for years, heavily sooted or smelly: a deep cleaning, on this page
- Unsure what’s up there: start with a chimney inspection for the clean flue
- Glass, logs or burner of a gas unit: the fireplace cleaning service or gas fireplace service
Windermere and nearby cities
- Anywhere in Windermere: mention how long the fireplace has been idle
- Inspection afterward: Add an inspection after the cleaning
- Nearby: soot removal in Winter Garden, Ocoee flue and smoke chamber cleaning and flue cleaning in Orlando
- Other work on the house: chimney, fireplace and vent work in Windermere
More detail: flue cleaning and soot removal, explained, plus why damp weather makes fireplaces smell.
References (2)
Where the Windermere numbers and code references come from.
