Santa's Friend Chimney Service Blog

How Do You Know When to Replace Your Chase Cover?

If your home has a prefabricated or factory-built chimney inside a chase, you most likely have a chase cover at the top of the chimney. The chase cover serves as a seal of your chimney and prevents water, debris, and animals from entering the flue and is typically installed with wood framed and sided chimney chases. Like a chimney cap, the chase cover keeps your chimney from becoming damaged by water penetration. The chase covers that come with prefabricated chimney systems are often constructed out of inferior galvanized metal or aluminum. Sadly, these inexpensive chase covers are not very long lasting. How do you know when to replace your chase cover? Since our chimney experts at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service regularly deal with damaged chase covers, we can tell you the signs that alert you that you may need a new chase cover.

Have you seen signs of rusting?

Rust formations are the most obvious sign of a chase cover that needs replacing. Rust stains anywhere on the chase, especially around your chimney cap, mean the condition of your chase cover should be inspected by Santa’s Friend Chimney Service to see if the cover has suffered any damage.

Have you seen water pooling on the chase cover?

Water pooling on the chase cover typically signifies that the chase cover was not correctly installed. Your chase cover should be positioned at an angle so that water from rain and melted snow will run off the cover and not stay on top where it may cause rusting and other types of corrosion. When water pools on top of a chase cover, it can lead to water penetration of your chimney as well as costly damage. You have probably heard us say before that the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) has named water as the greatest enemy of a masonry chimney.

Have you noticed damage to the chase structure itself, such as water swelling?

When the actual chase itself shows signs of water damage like swelling, you more than likely need to replace the chase cover to keep water from leaking into the chase and chimney. Wood can be damaged by water penetration just like masonry materials are. Water leaks can make the wood swell and possibly even rot.

Have you noticed missing mortar and cracked bricks from your chimney’s structure?

Water penetration speeds up the deterioration of the bricks and mortar used to build your chimney. Water that has leaked into the masonry materials of your chimney can freeze and then expand during the winter. After the temperatures go back above freezing, that water will thaw, which creates spalling damage to your chimney’s masonry materials. Consisting of loose, cracked bricks and missing pieces of mortar joints, spalling damage can make the structure of your chimney unsound and unsafe. If you have noticed spalling damage, your existing chase cover is most likely letting water leak into the chimney. Santa’s Friend Chimney Service can solve this problem by repairing spalling damage and by replacing your chase cover.

Have you noticed any of these signs? If so, get in touch with Santa’s Friend Chimney Service to get us to inspect your chase cover and then protect your chase and chimney from water leak damage by installing a new chase cover on top of your chimney.

Why Is My Chimney So Smelly?

Every summer, Santa’s Friend Chimney Service receives many calls from our customers about stinky chimneys. A few things can cause chimney odors, and the heat and humidity of summer can intensify these unpleasant smells that can enter your home through the chimney and fireplace system. Our chimney technicians have years of experience of dealing with stinky chimneys and fireplaces and know how to get rid of any bad odors from your hearth. We would like to tell you more about what causes chimneys that are smelly enough to affect the living spaces of your home.

Image by Kimbar under the Creative Commons license.

Negative Air Pressure

The reason why unpleasant odors enter your home through the fireplace and chimney has to do with negative air pressure. Sealing up a home too tightly when you weatherize for the summer to keep the cold air inside your home causes smoky air to enter your home from the fireplace instead of exiting out the chimney. Santa’s Friend Chimney Service can solve negative air pressure problems by installing a top-sealing damper to promote proper air circulation.

Creosote

According to the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), creosote forms naturally as a result of the combustion and condensation processes that occur when burning wood. Consisting of amorphous carbon, creosote sticks to the interior walls of your chimney and can accumulate into large deposits. Not only are these deposits extremely flammable, but they also emit a sour odor that is made worse by heat and humidity. The CSIA-certified chimney sweeps from Santa’s Friend Chimney Service can remove all of the creosote deposits that have built up inside your chimney during a professional chimney sweep, which will alleviate odor problems.

Other Causes

Water leaking into your chimney from rain and melted snow can create musty odors. To keep moisture from entering your chimney and causing unpleasant smells, Santa’s Friend Chimney Service can install a chimney cap on the top of your chimney. A chimney cap can also prevent another cause of unpleasant chimney odors: birds and animals. Without a chimney cap, birds and animals can easily get inside your chimney to nest. Debris from their nesting materials can smell badly, and even worse, a bird or animal could become trapped inside your chimney and possibly die. This worst case scenario can result in extremely unpleasant odors within your chimney that could affect the living spaces in your home.

If you have a smelly chimney, contact Santa’s Friend Chimney Service to allow us to improve the situation by dealing with what is causing the unpleasant odors.