Before and After Leaking Chase Cover

This was a severely rusted and leaking chase cover. Home is near the beach.  Lucky Sully Chimney Sweep replaced it with heavy gauge copper, which won’t rust out.

Before and after leaking chase repair

Chimneys are a Major Source of House Fires

house fire, chimney

It was reported recently that fireplaces or chimneys cause about 25,000 house fires per year in the U.S.

The damage is mostly due to flames migrating upward to crack, warp or melt the masonry or metal chimney walls.

How can you prevent chimney fires?

1. Minimize creosote (soot) build up by getting chimneys swept regularly. Clean when there is 1/8″ of soot buildup.
2. Get chimney inspected regularly. This would include a video inspection of the chimney to make sure there are no gaps or cracks which can be a fire hazard. If your chimney sweep only looks down the chimney or uses a hand held mirror, this is not good enough. He will most likely miss many cracks and gaps.
3. Install a chimney cap. The cap can keep out leaves, birds, bees, and rodents. Animal nests can provide fuel for a fire. The cost of removing birds, bees and rodents is much more than the cost of a chimney cap. If you are in a beach community, stainless steel caps will last a lot longer than plain metal ones.

Replaced leaking chase cover

Old leaking chase cover and cap, due to rust. Replaced the leaking chase cover with a new one.

replaced leaking chase cover

Rebuild of Chimney and Crown

Chimney was cracking due to moisture penetration of bricks. Got the rebar wet, rusting began and iron when rusts, expands and breaks bricks and concrete.

Removed broken, loose bricks, cut out rusted rebar, and rebuilt the chimney and crown, aka mortar cap.

Rebuild of chimney and crown

Beach home chase covers & shrouds installed

New chimney chase covers and shrouds are Stainless Steel and colored aluminum. These will hold up near beach cities better than galvanized.

chimney caps