Lee Wallender is a home improvement writer of nearly 20 years and specializes in home remodeling, repair and maintenance. Sami Allen is the managing editor at Forbes Home, with over seven years of ...

Your chimney looks fine from the yard — but inspectors know better.

I recently had a chimney sweep clean my furnace chimney for the first time in about eight or nine years. Originally we had an oil furnace, which created a lot of soot, but about 10 years ago we ...

We had a crisis at the almost-complete renovation today where the flue got clogged up the boiler backed up and smoke billowed through the house. Apparently some of the old terra cotta chimney liner ...

Back in the day, chimney pots — terra cotta structures that fit over chimneys — served mostly utilitarian purposes. The added height improved a chimney’s draft and helped keep soot from coal-burning ...

Water is a byproduct of combustion. If the proper venting of flue gases is neglected — as is so often the case, unfortunately, in our industry — water in the form of condensation triggers serious ...