Is Your Chimney Up to Modern Standards?
When you decide to buy an older home, it is important to realize the responsibility you will have as a homeowner to keep up with the maintenance issues and updates that can be involved. If your house has a fireplace and chimney, making sure everything meets current building codes and standards is crucial. You do not want to risk having to deal with a chimney fire or a carbon monoxide leak in your home because your chimney and fireplace system are not up to codes. Our Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA)-certified chimney technicians at Hudson Chimney have much experience with bringing older chimneys up to modern standards and can inspect your fireplace and chimney system to make any recommendations to update your system. While we have seen chimneys that do not meet the current height requirements as well as chimneys that have suffered major spalling damage that has jeopardized the structural soundness, the most common update we do is to install a new chimney liner because the chimney is unlined. Many older homes have unlined chimneys, and this can be quite a hazard. We would like to tell you more about the importance of chimney liners by sharing with you some information from the CSIA.
Why is a chimney liner so important?
Chimney liners serve three essential functions:
1. To protect your home from heat transfers to combustibles.
Without a chimney liner, the high temperatures from a fire can easily ignite combustible materials such as wood.
2. To protect the bricks and mortar of the chimney from corrosion from the byproducts of combustion.
Studies have proven that when combustion gases are allowed to penetrate into masonry materials, the life of the chimney is reduced. A chimney liner keeps these acidic gases from eating away at the mortar joints of your chimney.
3. To provide a correctly sized flue for the optimum efficiency of your heating appliance.
In order to function properly, modern fireplace inserts and stoves need a correctly sized flue. If the flue is too large, you can experience draft problems that will lead to smoke lingering too long inside your chimney, to the accelerated accumulation of creosote, and to the production of carbon monoxide.
If your older chimney is unlined, Hudson Chimney can increase the safety and efficiency of your heating appliance and chimney by installing a new liner. After inspecting your chimney, we will recommend the type of liner you need. Not only do we offer stainless steel liners, but we can design and install a custom liner to correctly match the size of your heating appliance. Contact us today to schedule an inspection of your older chimney to be sure it is up to modern standards.