Animals In Your Chimney? Top Hat & Tails Can Help!

When you look at your chimney, you probably see a beautiful and useful part of your home, and a system that allows you to enjoy a cozy fire on those cool fall and winter days and nights. When wandering critters — from birds to squirrels and bats — look at your chimney, they see a warm and dry, protected place to move in, get settled and maybe raise a family of small critters.

The Problems That Come With Animals In Your Chimney

If mammals or birds move into your chimney, you’re stuck with a variety of frustrations and annoyances. First, between squeaks, cheeps and scratches, freeloading animals can be incredibly annoying. But beyond that, they often bring in unwanted bacteria, bugs and terrible smells. Nesting animals also generally tow in highly combustible materials to build their nests — like twigs and brush — which contribute to blockages that diminish your chimney’s draft and increase the fire hazard of your system.

One particular animal that you’ll prefer not to have as a roommate: chimney swifts —birds that commonly choose chimneys as a nesting place and that, due to federal protection, legally can’t be removed by you or by chimney professionals. You’ll just have to wait them out and take precautions to prevent them from coming back next year.

You can also be stuck with the even more vexing problem of dead animals in your chimney. If sick or young animals aren’t able to make it up and out, they’ll often die in your flue, making their eviction your problem.

Keeping Animals Out Of Your Chimney

The best advice we can give when it comes to keeping animals out of your chimney, is to make sure that you have a properly installed and properly sized chimney cap in place. A cap blocks off animals’ access to your flue, telling them to seek shelter elsewhere.

What To Do If You Do Have Animals In Your Chimney

If birds, squirrels or other animals — assuming we’re not dealing with chimney swifts — have already made their way into your chimney, Top Hat & Tails can help. We’ll remove your animal visitors and any nesting materials or other debris that they’ve brought in, and recommend (and install, if you choose) a chimney cap that’ll help prevent this problem from reccurring in the future.

If you hear something, smell something or see something that indicates an animal problem, let us know — we’d be happy to make this frustrating problem a thing of the past.

Call Us Today

If you have any questions or need to have animals removed from your chimney, give Top Hat & Tails a call at 973-450-1947 or click here! We’ll remove any animals we find and help you prevent animal problems in the future!

Scheduling an appointment with Top Hat & Tails is a great step toward home safety. Call us today.