Chimneys do more than admit a red-robed, right jolly old elf every December, and Motor City Home Improvements has the experience and knowledge to keep your Detroit-area home’s chimney in tip-top shape. From masonry repairs to flashing to flue liners, we can repair and maintain your chimney.
Many Parts
A chimney admittedly has few moving parts—the damper, the ash dump, perhaps an ash pit door in the basement—but it has a lot of important stationary parts that must work correctly all the time, not just when a decorative fire is burning:
- Cap
- Chimney Chase
- Chimney Cricket
- Exterior Brickwork or Masonry
- Firebox
- Flashing
- Flue Liner
- Interior Brickwork, Facing, or Masonry
- Hearth
- Spark Arrester
Furnace or Boiler Fumes
If the basement of your Detroit-area home has a furnace or boiler providing you heat in three seasons, it probably exhausts through your home’s chimney. The carbon monoxide combustion byproduct escapes harmlessly out of your home, unless your chimney has cracks in the liner or brickwork. If your chimney has cracks or defects, that odorless, poisonous, colorless and tasteless gas can seep into your home, possibly with fatal results.
Water Infiltration
On the outside of your Detroit-area home, the flashing and chimney cricket tie the roof into the chimney. This cannot be a solid connection because different materials expand and contract at different rates, so caulking and flexible flashing are used. If a caulking crack or flashing failure allows water to seep into your Detroit-area home’s attic, expect mold, mildew and insect damage to follow.
Smoke and Fire Damage
Worse, possibly, than any threat to your home’s integrity from CO seepage, water infiltration and pest entry, is smoke or even flames escaping through cracks in your chimney liner and into your home. A two-story Detroit-area home may have more than 30 linear feet of chimney liner—that entire surface area must be free of cracks or defects so that smoke or flames from a first-floor fire in the fireplace cannot re-enter the second story of your house.
Sizing
Correct flue liner sizing is also important to proper functioning of your home’s chimney. Correct sizing is related to your fireplace and chimney use:
- Too small a flue liner, and your fireplace will not draw a draft properly
- Too large a liner and wasted heat escapes into the Detroit skies, wasting your money
- Hotter fuels will heat your liner more than lower-temperature fuels, so converting from, say, oil to ethanol may be environmentally great but not very good for your chimney
Appearances
Motor City Home Improvement knows that chimneys are far more than the sum of their many parts. The visual appeal of your fireplace and chimney is just as important as its function. If you are unhappy with the veneer on your chimney chase, or you want a new mantel, we can help you upgrade and improve your chimney and fireplace to preserve and improve your home’s value and beauty.
Signs
Without endangering yourself with rooftop acrobatics, look at your chimney from ground level. Is it leaning, showing obvious cracks or lacking a cap? Is its spark arrester rusted or burned through? Inside your home, do you notice any sag in the floor around your hearth? Difficulty opening or closing the damper is also a sign you need expert chimney repair.
Careful inspection, repair and maintenance of the chimney and attachments can preserve your property value, add beauty to your home, and make visits—from bearded gift bearers or just family members—cozy and comfortable.
Contact Motor City Home Improvement today to schedule an appointment for one of our expert chimney technicians to inspect and evaluate your chimney.
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