Five Important Queries for any Chimney Relining Process

If someone suggests chimney relining for your home, it is important to ask questions so you can decide if they are the right person to complete this job.

Any serious work involving your chimney is always better off left in the hands of a professional. While you can probably clean the chimney yourself, making improvements or adjustments is a complex process. If you are thinking about getting chimney relining done, call a professional and ask them about the services they offer. Along with getting their rate and other information, ask them a few questions about the process when they arrive at your home.

When you speak with a professional about the chimney relining process, you can better understand why they are taking certain measures. It also lets you decide whether this person is the right fit for the job. Here are five important queries for any Chimney relining professional:

1. Will the new liner be insulated?

If they are installing a new liner, you need to know whether insulation is required. If the liner is going to vent solid fuel appliances, insulation is an absolute must. Sometimes insulation is also preferable for venting oil or gas appliances. Talk with the chimney professional and get their opinion on insulation.

2. Is there a warranty?

If you are replacing your old or damaged liner, you should ask about any possible warranties for the new one. This is helpful if you ever need repairs or periodical inspections of the liner in the future. Also ask if there are any specific terms in the warranty that may result in its voidance. A lot of chimney liner warranties specify that a professional must complete the installation, and inspect the liner at least one time every 12 months.

3. Is the new chimney liner UL listed, or tested for UL standards?

There are two distinct types of chimney liners, in terms of their standards. The Underwriter Laboratories, or UL, listing means that a liner is probably of a higher quality. There are also liners that meet UL standards, but are inspected by different organizations. It is up to you whether you want to go with a genuine UL listing, or do not mind a tested to UL standards liner.

4. What stainless steel alloy makes up this liner?

There are a number of alloys used for these appliances, but 316Ti is the most common. This alloy is very resistance to the corrosive elements that come through in gas and oil flue gasses. If the appliance you use is very efficient, you may need the AL29 4C alloy. Your professional should be able to assess your appliance and determine a suitable alloy.

5. Does the chimney liner impact the vent’s performance?

If you are getting a new chimney liner installed by a professional, the end result should be better venting performance. If the venting performance is the same as before, or worse, it means there is something wrong with the type of liner chosen or its installation.

These questions help you make an informed decision about the type of chimney liner you need, along with who should be installing this liner. Do not leave everything in the hands of a professional, because it is better to take a proactive stance with anything involving your home.

The Importance of Chimney Cap Repair

If you are getting chimney cap repair, or general chimney repairs, it is good to understand the common problems associated with chimneys and their solutions.

Lighting up your fireplace in the winter, or making a delicious meal using your oven and stove, is a lot of fun. However, it is important to know that these situations can also involve a certain amount of danger, especially if your chimney is not functioning properly. It is so vital that your chimney is maintained on a regular basis, especially if you are constantly using appliances that push air through it. Not only does the chimney work better if it is maintained, but it keeps everyone in your home safe.

Chimney Cap Repair:

Chimney cap repair is essential to ensuring your chimney is running smoothly, as are other types of repairs. For proper understanding, think about how a chimney works. The purpose of your chimney is to get smoke and other gasses out of a hot zone and into the open air. And you do not want these gasses in other rooms of your house either, which is why the chimney draws them outside your home. If the smoke is not vented out by your chimney, it can start a fire or cause the home’s inhabitants to develop carbon monoxide poisoning.

Chimneys also keep your home safe by ensuring nothing gets too hot. If the area near a chimney heats up too much, it can cause serious structural damage to your home. This is why you must spot chimney issues early and deal with them immediately.

Chimney Cap Repair and Maintenance Tips:

If you cannot always call a professional to come look at your chimney, here are some maintenance steps you can perform yourself.

1. Make sure the outside part of your chimney is not damaged in any way. If there are visible cracks or the joints have gaps, you should call a professional to investigate further.

2. It is imperative that your home has detectors to check for carbon monoxide gasses. It does not take much for a chimney to stop working, but your detectors will let you know if there is ever a high level of carbon monoxide in the air. Keep these vents in every room, or at least every floor of the house. Even low levels of carbon monoxide are very dangerous.

3. If you are lighting fires, make sure they are hot enough to stop creosote from building up in your chimney.

4. Get your chimney cleaned and inspected at least one time a year. Even if this costs you some extra money, it is better than leaving your chimney uninspected. Not only does that put you and your family in danger, but the costs of chimney repair are a lot higher than regular maintenance checks. With a regular check, you can spot problems early before they become major issues.

The cap of your chimney is right at the top of the part that sticks out of your house. This cap is important for the smooth flow of gasses out of your house. Some caps also include dampers to prevent cold air from getting into your house down the chimney. If you feel as though your home’s insulation is not performing adequately, you might want to invest in Chimney cap repair to solve the problem.

CHIMNEY REPAIR

Whoever thought that you might need chimney repair because of bricks that are spalled? Aspalled brick is one that is broken. It’s the surface damage of a brick.

Because of its heat-containing features, only fire-treated brick may be used internally. External brickwork is different.Brick is a common building component, but brick mechanics change according to use, location, and the exposure to the elements. A qualified brick mason must know many things.

Brick deteriorates. Old brick with many years of exposure to weather may “flake.” Exterior surfaces will peel away from the brick, while constant exposure to the elements may cause a brick to fail, crack, and fall away from the chimney.The greatest source of damage to the chimney is water—freezing and thawing.

Bricks used in chimney exteriors are developed with porous interiors and finished with a hard nonporous shell. Whenever that shell is breached, the porous interior of the brick becomes exposed to the elements. Water in the cracks of a brick freezes, forcing bricks to split. In a lined chimney, the exterior brick will split away from the liner and may fall to the roof or the ground. Once water has found its way inside a brick wall, the freeze-thaw-freeze process will progressively destroy the wall—or the exterior of a chimney.

But Also the Mortar

There are five types of mortar: M, N, S, O, and K. These vary according to the amount of cement, water, sand, and hydrated lime included. The names are designated by the American Society for Testing and Development (ASTD). They vary according to the pressure the masonry wall must endure. Type M is the mortar for chimney brickwork. It is a high-strength mortar.
By its nature, mortar is designed to be elastic. Brickwork can experience minor shifting. The mortar will permit that, while maintaining the bonding. This will affect how much mortar is applied, as the brick could be “squeezed,” should too much mortar be used. Squeezing will also lead to cracks and subsequent deterioration.

Back to Spalling

One type of spalling that applies to brickwork is known as mechanical spalling, and it occurs in one of two manners:

•    High stress contact: something applied as pressure against the brickwork itself, such as a pressure washing. When the under-surface construction of the brick gives way, the outside of the brick splits off.

•    Cavitation can also cause spalling. Fluids will aggregate inside the brick, causing bubbles to form. The bubbles expand, blowing the brick apart.
Again, the freeze/dry cycle can cause the spalling, plus changes in load, thermal expansion, and exposure to salt. Damage is possible in wind stress and ambient heat situations and where there is great exposure to salt, such as the seashore.
Possible Solutions

Now that you know what it is, what can be done about it? That lies in one of two actions:

•    Replacing damaged bricks

•    Re pointing crumbling mortar

For proper chimney repair, brick replacement must be done slowly. The mason must remove the damaged bricks in a manner that isolates the bad brick(s) without collapsing the rest of the chimney. This will mean cutting bricks to fit and size adjustments made to fit the aesthetics of the chimney.Mortar around the damaged brick must be removed to at least a depth of ½ inch and the surface must be wire brushed.

Type M mortar will be used, and in small amounts, that it may not dry before being applied. Add water, apply mortar to the empty space, trowel it onto the surfaces of the replacement brick, and insert it. Scrape away any excess mortar and shape the mortar to where it looks like the surrounding mortar.

Re-pointing is the other option for chimney repair. Where the mortar is crumbling, the mason will clear it with a hammer and cold chisel, brushing it clean with a wire brush.

The mason will load a mortar bag, allowing for the direction of new mortar into the deficient space until it has been completely filled. Once he has removed any excess mortar and shaped the joint so it looks like an adjacent joint, the process is complete.

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CHIMNEY RELINING

There was a time when chimneys were not lined.Much property was lost due to the lack of that protection.
In 1904, the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) prepared its first codification on chimneys and fireplaces. That codification has undergone many changes. The most recent standard is NFPA 211, 2013.Here we will concentrate on Chapter 4 (General Requirements) and Chapter 7 (Masonry Chimneys).

Naturally, any change in the lining of the chimney must be done according to current NFPA standards in order for that property to be insurable.

First, from Chapter 4 (General Requirements) we get this: “Castable” or plastic refractories used to line chimneys or connectors shall be the equivalent in resistance to heat and erosion by flue gases to that of… fireclay brick.” Fireclay brick has a heat transfer thermal conductivity of 500 degrees Centigrade, 932 degrees Fahrenheit. It becomes more important, however, when the lining supports are considered. According to NFPA 211, Chapter 4, “Lining made of castable or plastic [ceramic] refractories shall be secured to the supporting walls by anchors made of corrosion-resistant steel capable of supporting the refractoryload at 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, 816 degrees Centigrade.” Some definitions might help:

•    Thermal conductivity is "the quantity of heat transmitted through a unit thickness of a material - in a direction normal to a surface of unit area - due to a unit temperature gradient under steady state conditions," according to www.engineeringtoolbox.com.

•    Castable liners: to begin with, a castable liner exists to protect the chimney’s masonry from corrosion from the products of combustion. It’s mixed like cement and fills the void spaces around the flues. This liner would be perhaps the best choice among all the options for your chimney.However, it may not be the easiest choice for relining one.

•    Refractory—its definition is “resistance to heat.”

It follows that since yours is not a new construction, you’ll be faced with a retrofit of your existing chimney. Unless that chimney has fallen, you must now reline it to fit the standards as closely as possible. Therefore, we will assume a standing structure placed on a code-matching foundation.It’s small consolation to know that if the house burns down, the chimney will continue to stand. The mason who works on your chimney relining must know:

•    The concrete or noncombustible material on which the chimney has been placed has a fire resistance rating of not less than 3 hours.

•    That if it was built according to existing code, it does not require the building itself in order to stand and the load is transferred to the ground, and

•    There may be limitations on corbeling of masonry chimneys, processes of widening the chimney’s base. There are many requirements for corbels; only somebody familiar with the NFPA Standard 211 should be selected to do the work.

The standard is extensive. There are requirements for flue sizes, proximity to roof structures, pass-throughs for ceilings and floors. There are numerous standards for cleanout facilities, including standards for doors—distances from floors and markings for the door.

The person who works on this chimney relining must know where the bottom of the flue must be positioned. He must know how to “firestop” all spaces through which the chimney passes with noncombustible material. He must know to use galvanized steel or noncombustible sheet material where the chimney passes close to wood joists, beams, or headers.

There are other concerns. Included here are reinforcement for seismic and wind activity, thimbles (pass-through fittings for chimneys) and smoke tests where the chimney is proved to be tight.

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