Why is the smell worse in summer than in winter?

In winter the fire pushes air up and out. In summer, warm humid outdoor air meets a cooler flue, the airflow reverses, and the chimney draws down into the room — carrying the creosote smell with it. Troy's damp summers make this very noticeable.

Will sweeping alone fix it?

Often it does, because the creosote is the smell. If water is still soaking the flue through a cracked crown, bad flashing or a missing cap, or if the damper won't seal, those need handling too. The inspection tells you which of those apply to your chimney.

My fireplace hasn't been used in years. Why does it still smell?

Old deposits stay in the masonry and keep releasing odour, and unused flues in New York's humid summers stay damp, which encourages creosote smells and interior staining. Plenty of older Troy homes have decommissioned chimneys doing exactly this.

Could this be carbon monoxide?

Carbon monoxide has no smell, so the odour itself is not the warning sign. But a chimney smell alongside headaches, nausea or dizziness should be treated as carbon monoxide until proven otherwise — get everyone outside and call 911.

Do I need a permit for this in Troy?

Routine sweeping and inspection generally do not require a permit in New York. Relining a flue as part of an appliance installation or structural masonry work above the roofline usually does, and permits are issued by the local building department, so call them before that kind of work begins.

Smells of smoke or damp in Troy, NY

That smell is usually the creosote itself. It is the tar and soot left on the inside walls of the flue by past fires, and when it gets warm and damp it gives off a sharp, smoky, sour smell. Rain and condensation make it worse. So does anything else sitting in the flue — a nest, leaves, droppings, a dead bird. A damp masonry smell with no smoke behind it usually means water is getting in somewhere above you.

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The second half of the problem is airflow. In summer, warm humid air outside meets a cool flue, the draft reverses, and the chimney breathes into the house instead of out of it. Troy gets exactly that kind of damp summer, and the long heating season either side of it leaves plenty of creosote in the flue to smell. A lot of Troy chimneys are 19th- or early-20th-century brick with original clay or unlined flues, and decades of freeze-thaw open up mortar joints and crowns that let moisture straight into the masonry.

While you wait — please don't

Get outside if anyone feels ill. A smell combined with headaches, dizziness or nausea means carbon monoxide until proven otherwise — leave the house, then call 911.
Don't just shut the damper and spray air freshener. Closing it off and covering the smell hides a flue that may still be packed with fuel that can burn.
Don't light a fire to burn the smell away. If the flue is loaded with creosote or blocked by a nest, a fire makes a bad situation much worse, so stop using the fireplace until it has been looked at.
Don't pour bleach or cleaner down the flue. It soaks into the masonry, does nothing to the creosote and can leave you with a worse smell than you started with.

What the technician does

The flue gets sweptMost of the smell is the creosote deposit itself, so removing it removes the source. This is the first thing a sweep looks at.
Nests and debris come outAnimal nests, droppings, leaves and the odd dead bird all rot and smell, especially when damp. The smoke chamber and smoke shelf get cleared out too.
The water path gets tracedRain soaking into the flue keeps the smell alive. The technician checks the cap, the crown and the flashing to find where the moisture is getting in.
The damper is checkedA damper that won't seal lets flue air straight into the room. Repairing it, or fitting a top-sealing damper at the top of the flue, closes that path.
House pressure is consideredBath fans, range hoods, dryers and a tight house can pull air down the chimney. The technician will tell you if the draft is reversing and why.
You get the findings and the price firstThe technician inspects the chimney and gives you the price before any work starts, and you approve it. Ask to see the camera footage and ask for the reasoning in writing.

Why this happens in Troy, NY

Troy's housing stock is unusually old — brick rowhouses, two- and three-family wood-frame homes, Victorian-era masonry — so working and decommissioned chimneys with original flues are everywhere. In the rowhouse blocks of Downtown Troy, Little Italy and Washington Park you also get party walls and shared chimney stacks, which is worth mentioning to the technician if the smell seems to come and go with your neighbour's fire. Decades of freeze-thaw on Collar City masonry means repointing and crown repair are common findings behind a damp smell.

Seasonally, this is a two-peak problem here. The smell shows up in the humid summer when the draft reverses and the chimney breathes inward, and masonry damage from the winter freeze shows up again at the spring thaw. Early fall is when most Troy owners get the chimney prepped before the heating season, and fixing the smell then usually means the flue is clean and sealed before the first cold snap. The same pattern runs through Lansingburgh, South Troy and Sycaway, and across the river in Albany, Watervliet and Cohoes.

Questions people ask

Why is the smell worse in summer than in winter?: In winter the fire pushes air up and out. In summer, warm humid outdoor air meets a cooler flue, the airflow reverses, and the chimney draws down into the room — carrying the creosote smell with it. Troy's damp summers make this very noticeable.
Will sweeping alone fix it?: Often it does, because the creosote is the smell. If water is still soaking the flue through a cracked crown, bad flashing or a missing cap, or if the damper won't seal, those need handling too. The inspection tells you which of those apply to your chimney.
My fireplace hasn't been used in years. Why does it still smell?: Old deposits stay in the masonry and keep releasing odour, and unused flues in New York's humid summers stay damp, which encourages creosote smells and interior staining. Plenty of older Troy homes have decommissioned chimneys doing exactly this.
Could this be carbon monoxide?: Carbon monoxide has no smell, so the odour itself is not the warning sign. But a chimney smell alongside headaches, nausea or dizziness should be treated as carbon monoxide until proven otherwise — get everyone outside and call 911.
Do I need a permit for this in Troy?: Routine sweeping and inspection generally do not require a permit in New York. Relining a flue as part of an appliance installation or structural masonry work above the roofline usually does, and permits are issued by the local building department, so call them before that kind of work begins.

One call

One Call Chimney is a referral and scheduling service — we arrange the work with independent sweeps and masons rather than perform it ourselves, and we cover all fifty states. Call (866) 576-7943 for a free estimate: the technician inspects the chimney and gives you the price, and you approve it before any work starts.

Call now · (866) 576-7943

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