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Have you ever heard of the inside of someone’s home being "trashed"
by an errant bird or squirrel? Or dampers rusting out of fireplaces?
Or the mortar in chimneys being slowly eaten away? The damage caused
in any of these cases can be quite expensive to repair, as well
as inconvenient. The simple installation of a chimney cap can prevent
tragedies such as these.
What causes them? Rainwater that gets in your chimney mixes with
the ash in the flue, to form corrosive lye. This eats away at the
mortar and at the metal of the damper, shortening the useful life
of both. Maybe you’ve noticed your damper is rusty or hard to open
or you’ve found puddles in your fireplace. Both are signs that you
need a cap. If the damper pins or casing rust out, it can cost anywhere
from $300 to $600 to have the old casing ripped out and a new one
installed. On heatilator type fireplaces the dampers are virtually
impossible to replace. And, of course, if the mortar in a masonry
chimney goes, the cost of repair or replacement is quite high.
As for those birds, squirrels, and raccoons - all of them consider
chimneys the ideal place to safely raise a family...or enter a house
easily. When they nest, they bring fleas, ticks and other messes
with them. If they enter a house, they often panic - wrecking furnishings
as they try to escape. Some smart raccoons, of course, find the
chimney the perfect "gateway" to the kitchen, tracking sooty pawprints
all over everything as they trek back and forth to the pantry. Cute?
Maybe. Destructive? Definitely.
Chimney caps or covers are made in various styles with different
materials - ranging from heavy pieces of slate placed on "columns"
at the flue top, to painted metal or aluminum caps that attach to
the chimney liner. What you should look for in a chimney cap is
one that will keep out rain and animals, but that can be easily
removed for chimney inspection and maintenance.
Don’t wait until the raccoons nest in your chimney this Spring.
Or until your rusty damper falls off in your hand. Ask your chimney
sweep to show you the caps he or she has to offer. You can usually
save money if you get one at the same time your chimney is swept
or inspected.
-Text
by National Chimney Sweep Guild
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