Chimney repair with a free inspection in Wadeview Park

What you can check safely from the ground

You can learn a lot about a chimney without a ladder. Walk around the house, stand back far enough to see the whole stack and use binoculars for the top. BIA maintenance guidance recommends binoculars for observing upper areas up close, along with sketches and notes of what you see. It also suggests looking in different seasons, since some conditions only show in certain weather.

Stay off the roof. Nothing you could see from up there changes what happens next, and loose masonry and a pitched roof are a poor mix. Write down where you saw each thing and bring the notes to the free inspection, where our crew in Wadeview Park checks each point you raise up close.

• Mortar that is missing or sits back from the brick face
• Rust streaks running down from the top
• A gap where the chimney meets the house wall
• Plants, stains or white deposits on the brick

Cleaning a brick chimney without damaging it

Cleaning brick can do more harm than the dirt it removes. BIA guidance on cleaning brickwork says to select the gentlest effective method and to try it first on a small, out-of-sight area before cleaning the whole surface.

The method is matched to the brick. BIA recommends following the brick maker's cleaning procedure where there is one and trying a bucket and brush or pressurized water before chemical cleaners. Windows, trim and metal nearby are protected, since many cleaning agents, acids in particular, attack metal.

The trial area also shows what to expect, since some cleaning methods change the look of the brick. The estimate names the cleaning method and the test area, and it lists cleaning as a separate line from any repair.

• Abrasive blasting and high-pressure water can etch joints and strip the brick face
• Steel bristle brushes can leave particles that rust
• Improperly mixed or strong acid can etch brick and dissolve mortar

Changing the appliance means checking the flue

A flue is sized and lined for what it vents. Under the Florida Building Code, a chimney flue may not be smaller in area than the connector from the appliance, and a flue that served an open fireplace is not automatically right for a stove or an insert.

Swapping appliances is where mismatches start. Because the code ties the lining to the terms of the appliance listing and the maker's instructions, the new appliance's own manual carries part of the answer, and the chimney has to satisfy both the manual and the code.

If you can, bring the new appliance's model and manual into the conversation before it is bought. Our crew in Wadeview Park compares its flue requirements with the chimney you have, and the estimate spells out whether the existing lining can stay, needs repair or has to be replaced to suit it.

Smoke in the room points to a problem

EPA wood-burning guidance says a properly installed, correctly used appliance should make very little smoke, and that smoke you regularly see or smell means you may have a problem. An open fireplace that puffs smoke out of the opening each time it is lit fits that description.

The causes run from simple to serious. At one end sit a damper that is not fully open and wet or green wood. At the other sit a flue blocked by debris or a nest, a damaged smoke chamber or a chimney too short for the roof around it. Until the cause is found, stop using the fireplace.

Finding the cause means checking the damper, the smoke chamber, the flue and the height of the chimney in turn. For homes in Wadeview Park, the cause is traced to the part responsible, and the estimate names the fix, whether that is a damper repair, clearing a blockage or a change at the top.