General Tips
- ♦ Most Important—Have your chimney cleaned and inspected
- ◊ Before its first use
- ◊ Yearly
- ♦ Dangers of brick chimney interiors (as opposed to ones with a liner):
- ◊ The nooks and cracks in the brick allow places for pitch and creosote (un-burnt hydrocarbons) to build up.
- − This buildup can start a fire.
- − A fire in-between the bricks of a chimney can be disastrous.
- ◊ The nooks and cracks in the brick allow places for pitch and creosote (un-burnt hydrocarbons) to build up.
- ♦ Liners
- ◊ Stainless steel chimney liners
- − Install with appropriate lime insulation
- − Should be correctly sized
- − Installed according to codes and standards
- − Enlist an experienced chimney specialist that has worked with historic brick
- ◊ Poured chimney liners
- − Not appropriate for historic brickwork/chimneys
- − Product can damage historic materials and be very costly to remove
- ◊ Stainless steel chimney liners
- ♦ Do you no longer use your chimney for your fireplace, but still to vent your furnace?
- ◊ It still needs maintenance!
- ◊ All chimneys used for venting modern equipment, gas, oil or wood burning should be inspected yearly for safe venting and to maintain chimney structure.
- ♦ Structural problems with chimneys
- ◊ May be able to support the chimney while repairing the foundation underneath.
- ◊ May need to take down chimney, repair foundation supports, then rebuild chimney.
- ◊ If historic chimney is being rebuilt, confirm with the mason or contractor that historic brick will be used on the exterior.
- − Additional brick may be needed to ensure it is stable, but historic brick could be used or any new brick could be concealed inside the chimney.
