Professionals will point out to us that a chimney that has seen several winters of heavy use in New Jersey needs cleaning, re-lining or entirely re-built. This kind of maintenance is needed for an efficient and safe use of home or any chimneys.
Through out an entire winter, our chimneys have accumulations of soot and creosote that have harmful toxins. Most homeowners tend to forget or even overlook that chimneys have to be cleaned out when winter passes often because keeping warm is not urgent. If winter comes again to find the dangerous chemicals present and stuck upon the bricks the entire year, it would create dangerous places out of fireplaces the moment they are active once again.
Your chimney under the vagaries of the weather will have had its structure compromised. The outer parts of mortar joints called pointing will have voids between bricks that will allow water to seep in. Ones chimney repair expert will have this fixed with simple re-pointing. They may also need replacing old bricks which are dilapidated or replace the entire stucco or brick chimney if it can not be repaired.
Yet another big threat to our homes chimneys comes from old and dilapidated flue liners. These function by preventing combustible material around the chimneys from catching fire. With time, the liners tend to wear away meaning they are not protecting the building and need to be replaced. Masonry sweeps should have the expertise to find crumbling and cracked liners replacing them whenever this is needed.
Clay tile types of liners will definitely break or crack at some point in time. This will let in moisture which will lead to structural problems. Sulfur contained in smoke could mix with moisture leading to corrosive reactions that could eat tiny holes into metal liners. In order to keep our homes and chimney safe, a secure inner lining system has to be in place to stop moisture, carbon monoxide, smoke and creosote from seeping through mortar and bricks and into the house.
It could happen that the inner liner was actually never installed or if it were, it has deteriorated with time. Noticing that a chimney is not functioning by pulling smoke out and up from the house means there is a problem with the chimneys liner. A smelly fireplace points to creosote building up too fast pointing problems with the liner. Any of these problems can be fixed by a professional.
When it involves chimneys, corner cutting or temporary solutions are both not acceptable. Maintenance and repairs are crucial because failure could mean our homes could go up in flames or our families could have health problems from toxins from damaged chimneys.
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