Is smoke in the room dangerous or just annoying?

It is dangerous. Smoke entering the room means combustion gases are entering the room, and carbon monoxide comes with them. Put the fire out, open a window, and if anyone feels headachy or dizzy, get outside and call 911.

Why does it happen on the first fire of the season?

A cold flue draws badly until it warms, and in Troy the flue has usually sat damp through a humid summer. Add a nest, leaves or built-up creosote from the last season and the smoke has nowhere to go but back at you.

Could my kitchen fan be the problem?

It can be. A tightly sealed house or a powerful extractor fan can pull harder than the chimney and reverse the flow. The technician tests the draft to see whether that is what is happening before anything is replaced.

Do I need a permit in Troy for this work?

Permits in New York are issued locally by the municipal building department and code enforcement officer, not by a state agency. Routine sweeping and inspection generally do not require one, but relining a flue as part of an appliance installation or rebuilding masonry above the roofline usually does. Call the local building department before that kind of work begins.

Who does the work, and how do I know what it will cost?

One Call Chimney is a referral and scheduling service that arranges the work with independent sweeps and masons. We are not the contractor and we do not perform the work. The technician inspects the chimney and gives you the price before anything starts, and you approve it first.

Stop using the fireplace

Smoke in the room in Troy, NY

You lit a fire and the smoke came at you instead of going up. That means the chimney is not pulling. Something is in the way, the damper is not opening the way it should, or the flue has no draft yet. Whatever the reason, the smoke that entered your room brought combustion gases with it, and carbon monoxide travels with those gases. Put the fire out. Open a window. Do not light another fire until the flue has been inspected.

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Troy makes this a common call. The housing stock here is unusually old, with 19th- and early-20th-century brick rowhouses, two- and three-family wood-frame homes and Victorian masonry, so original flues and shared stacks are everywhere. New York's freeze-thaw cycles work on crowns, mortar joints and brick faces year after year, and damp summers keep an unused flue wet. A cold flue draws badly until it warms. A tightly sealed house or a strong kitchen or bath extractor fan can also beat the chimney for air and pull the smoke backward.

While you wait — please don't

Put the fire out. Smoke in the room means combustion gases in the room, and carbon monoxide comes with them.
Get air moving and get outside if you feel unwell. Open a window, and if anyone is headachy, dizzy or confused, get them outside and call 911.
Do not light another fire. Until the flue is swept and inspected, you have no idea whether the blockage is still sitting up there.
Do not force a stuck damper. Cast iron and old damper frames break, and a broken plate can fall and block the throat completely.

What the technician does

The flue gets sweptThe technician sweeps the full length of the flue so that soot, creosote and debris are cleared out of the way before anything else is judged.
A camera goes upA camera inspection finds the blockage, or shows that there isn't one. Ask to see the footage yourself.
The damper is checkedThe damper is opened, freed and checked for a full seat. Depending on what is found, it is repaired or replaced.
Draft is testedThe technician tests the draft and identifies the cause, including whether the house itself is starving the chimney for air.
Cap and crown are looked atA damaged cap or a cracked crown lets water and debris in, and both show up fast in a freeze-thaw climate.
The smoke chamber is cleaned and pargedA rough or sooted smoke chamber slows smoke on its way up. Cleaning and parging it gives the smoke a smoother path.

Why this happens in Troy, NY

Troy's rowhouses often sit shoulder to shoulder with party walls and shared chimney stacks, and masonry that has gone through decades of Collar City winters usually needs repointing at some stage. Mortar joints and crowns take the worst of it here, because the freeze-thaw cycle is frequent and the heating season is long. A flue that has absorbed moisture over a damp summer will not draw well on the first cold night of the season, which is exactly when most people light their first fire.

Demand climbs in early fall across Troy as people get chimneys ready before winter, and again at the spring thaw when freeze damage shows itself. If you are in Lansingburgh, South Troy, Washington Park or anywhere in between, the pattern is the same: older flue, long heating season, damp summers. Many chimneys in the area are still active venting flues for heating appliances rather than decorative, so a blocked or poorly drawing stack is not only a fireplace problem.

Questions people ask

Is smoke in the room dangerous or just annoying?: It is dangerous. Smoke entering the room means combustion gases are entering the room, and carbon monoxide comes with them. Put the fire out, open a window, and if anyone feels headachy or dizzy, get outside and call 911.
Why does it happen on the first fire of the season?: A cold flue draws badly until it warms, and in Troy the flue has usually sat damp through a humid summer. Add a nest, leaves or built-up creosote from the last season and the smoke has nowhere to go but back at you.
Could my kitchen fan be the problem?: It can be. A tightly sealed house or a powerful extractor fan can pull harder than the chimney and reverse the flow. The technician tests the draft to see whether that is what is happening before anything is replaced.
Do I need a permit in Troy for this work?: Permits in New York are issued locally by the municipal building department and code enforcement officer, not by a state agency. Routine sweeping and inspection generally do not require one, but relining a flue as part of an appliance installation or rebuilding masonry above the roofline usually does. Call the local building department before that kind of work begins.
Who does the work, and how do I know what it will cost?: One Call Chimney is a referral and scheduling service that arranges the work with independent sweeps and masons. We are not the contractor and we do not perform the work. The technician inspects the chimney and gives you the price before anything starts, and you approve it first.

One call

One call to (866) 576-7943 and we arrange for an independent sweep to inspect your chimney in Troy, with a free estimate on every job. The technician gives you the price before any work starts, and nothing goes ahead until you say yes.

Call now · (866) 576-7943

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One Call Chimney arranges the visit; the technician does the work and gives you the price.