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.

Top-Mounted Dampers Are Best for Your Chimney

If you have an older chimney, you most likely have a traditional throat damper for your fireplace. According to the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), the damper is an important component of your fireplace and chimney system to keep the heat in and the cold air out of your house, which increases your energy efficiency and reduces your heating costs. The damper is also important for safety reasons because it controls the flow of smoke, gases, and the other byproducts of combustion up the chimney to leave your home. However, a throat damper has many flaws and issues. Fortunately, you have another choice for a highly effective damper that will give you a better seal than the traditional throat damper: the top-mounted damper. Santa’s Friend Chimney Service strongly prefers and recommends this type of damper. We would like to tell you more why we feel a top-mounted damper is the best choice for your chimney.

This clip is courtesy of Richie Baxley at Environmental Chimney Service in Asheville NC.

A top-mounted damper takes care of two functions at once.

One of the best features of a top-mounted damper is that it also serves as a chimney cap when the damper is closed. To be completely honest, we feel that this type of damper actually gives you better protection than an ordinary chimney cap. With its silicone rubber gasket to seal in heat and air conditioning as a throat damper does, a top-mounted damper also provides an air-tight seal to keep out water, debris, birds, squirrels, and raccoons — just as a chimney cap would. If our customers need a new chimney cap, Santa’s Friend Chimney Service recommends installing a top-mounted damper instead of a chimney cap. Some models of top-mounted dampers are even equipped with protective meshing, so when the damper is open, your chimney is still protected from animals and debris.

A top-sealing damper saves you both energy and money.

You just cannot get as good of a seal from a throat damper as you would from a top-mounted damper. You will have no worries of cold air, ice, and snow coming into your flue and making a cold core within your chimney. This cold core will attempt to cool your home at the same time that your heating system is trying to warm it up, which wastes both fuel and money. Since a top-mounted damper is at the top of your chimney, cold air does not have the chance to get inside the chimney as your entire flue will be sealed air-tight with the silicone rubber gasket. Believe us when we tell you that you will save money on your energy bills by installing a top-mounted damper.

A top-mounted damper is easy to operate.

Some throat dampers are difficult to use because you have to almost stick your head up the fireplace to open and close them. With a top-mounted damper, opening and closing the damper is simple. A stainless steel cable from the damper comes down the chimney and connects to a handle you can easily access from inside the firebox. Different models will have different opening and closing methods, but we promise you will find all easy to use.

If you would like to know more about top-mounted dampers, get in touch with Santa’s Friend Chimney Service to find out even more advantages to this type of damper.

The Importance of Online Reviews of Service Companies

The staff at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service loves to get feedback from our customers about our services as a chimney company. Whether the review is positive or negative, we learn a lot from customer feedback about how we can best serve our customers. We always sincerely appreciate our customers who have taken the time to write a review of our chimney services. Online review websites like Yelp are not only helpful to businesses like us, but you can use these resources to research companies for a service you need. The ability to read other people’s first-hand experiences with a company can be a powerful tool for consumers. When you hire a chimney sweep or other home service technician for the first time, you want to be sure of his or her credentials before placing the safety of yourself, your family, and your home in the hands of this person. Reading online reviews can be a great way to find out more about the business you would like to employ in your home.

Of course, many of the online reviews you will find are negative, and this illustrates human nature. People are more inspired to tell other people about their bad experiences than their good ones. While no business is perfect, some service companies do respond to their negative online reviews in attempts to make the situation better and please that customer. This shows a business eager to do right by its customers, which can go a long way to a consumer. Everyone makes mistakes, but those who admit these mistakes and try to correct them deserve a second chance. Whenever our staff at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service receives a customer complaint or reads a disgruntled online review of our services, we use these opportunities as learning experiences to provide even better services. Sometimes it can be difficult to know what you are doing wrong if you do not get any feedback.

When you are looking for a qualified chimney sweep to thoroughly clean your chimney, you want to hire someone who is both skilled and trustworthy. You definitely want a chimney sweep who is trained and certified within the chimney industry so that you can be sure your fireplace and chimney system will work properly and safely after the cleaning. Since the chimney sweep must also come into your home, knowing more about the sweep’s work background can help you to breathe easier. You would not want to hire a chimney sweep who has been suspected of theft. Researching technicians who will be working in your home by reading online reviews is an excellent way to find out exactly who you should hire.

Santa’s Friend Chimney Service always strives to serve our customers better than any other chimney company in the Central Mississippi area. Contact us to set up an appointment with one of our certified chimney technicians for whatever chimney needs you may have.

All About Bird Screens

Whenever the weather gets warmer, Santa’s Friend Chimney Service receives phone calls from our customers to tell us they have heard birds chirping, scurrying, and flying around in their chimneys. Concerned with the state of their chimneys as well as the condition of the birds, these customers want to know how we can help. Our answer is simple: we can install a bird screen to your chimney to prevent birds and other animals like raccoons and squirrels from ever entering in the first place. Recommended by humane societies, like the Wisconsin Humane Society, a bird screen can make all of the difference. Stopping wildlife from entering your chimney prevents not only the nuisance caused but also hazardous situations that could arise. We would like to tell you more about these screens and how we can help you keep birds and animals out of your chimney.

What hazardous situations do bird screens prevent?

The nesting materials left behind by birds can create blockages of the flue of your chimney, which could result in carbon monoxide and other toxic gases leaking into your home through your fireplace. Additionally, these materials are highly flammable and can burn quickly if ignited to cause a devastating chimney fire. Keeping these animals out also ensures you do not run the risk of a creature becoming trapped inside your chimney to possibly die within. Bird screens will also keep leaves and other debris that can also block the flue.

Does the size of the screening make a difference?

You want the mesh screening to be small enough to keep birds and animals out of your chimney but also large enough to allow smoke and the other byproducts of combustion to exit your chimney freely. Most bird screens for chimneys have mesh openings from one-half of an inch to one inch sized openings. If the screens have openings larger than one inch, birds and animals may still be able to enter. If the mesh is smaller than one-half inch, clogging of the screen can become an issue.

How can I be sure my bird screen is not clogged?

If your bird screen becomes clogged, it can restrict airflow out of your chimney. To check to see if your screen is clogged, look at the top of your chimney from the outside during the day. If you can see daylight coming through the screen, it is not clogged. However, if the screen is opaque, your screen is probably clogged with creosote and should be cleaned.

How do I clean my bird screen?

Since it can be difficult to safely reach the top of your chimney to be able to get to your screen to clean it, Santa’s Friend Chimney Service recommends you call us to do this job for you. You may want to go ahead and schedule a chimney cleaning from our Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA)-certified chimney sweeps as a clogged bird screen usually is a pretty good indicator that the chimney itself is also in need of cleaning due to creosote accumulation.

Have questions about bird screens? Contact  Santa’s Friend Chimney Service to learn how this simple installation can keep birds and animals out of your chimney.

The Chimney Swifts Are Arriving Soon

Chimney Swifts come to Central Mississippi this time of year after spending the colder months in South America. These birds come back to North America to nest and lay eggs. Chimneys are one of their favorite places (hence the name Chimney Swift), and you cannot move them once they have nested. They are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. To keep them out of your chimney, you need to have a chimney cap installed. Contact Santa’s Friend Chimney Service for information about chimney caps at 601-854-7563.