Expert: Steve Tavares - 10/19/2009

Question
We had a problem with a wasp nest inside our wood-burning fireplace - the wasps started to come into the house - about 10 of them got in before I sealed the fireplace doors with packing tape. This kept them out thankfully. We thought it would be best to wait for them all to hibernate / die before calling in a chimney sweep. Yesterday my husband found the queen bee outside (she was in hibernation) and killed her! This is my first year of having a woodburning fireplace and I am not sure:

a/ what regular maintenance things I should be doing?
b/ what I can do to prevent wasps from nesting there again?
c/ what the avg. cost will be to remove the nest and sweep the fireplace?
d/ what is a liner? how do I know if I have one and what are the benefits?

Thank you so much.

Answer
ok so here is what we need to do:

A) Regular maintenance should be cleaning the chimney once a year and just looking at the fireplace inside to make sure nothing is cracked/broken.

B) Not sure, But I would ask the Sweep when they come in for some ideas.

C) Around my neck of the woods it's not uncommon to see a price around the neighbourhood of $120.00 - $175.00.

D) A liner is more commonly used for fireplace insert. (putting a fireplace inside of your fireplace). Here is a little video that i found on the internet real quick that shows how to install one. This should offer more information and visuals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRauuzjI-H4

This should help you out. Let me know if there is anything else I can help you out with.