Friday, May 23, 2014

When Do You Need A Chimney Restoration Northern Virginia Contractor?

By Marci Glover


Right from the construction process, to the design, and finally to the completion of the chimney project, the basement of chimneys should be reinforced adequately. An astute flue workman should not mount a substandard structure since a terribly constructed smokestack could be the beginning of all the home stress. By boosting the lifespan of the structures with help of chimney restoration northern Virginia contractors, you are able to have a peace of mind when using your chimneys

With an appropriately assembled and maintained smokestack, one can be guaranteed of less troubles in the structure. A properly working chimneys will be efficient, free of fires, as well as long lasting. In real sense, no fireplace can run efficient if its chimney restoration plans, establishment, and upkeep leave a lot to be desired. Many smokestacks breakdown because of their inappropriate size.

Many chimneys malfunction due to their improper size and lack of attention to cleaning. This arises from the fact that some chimneys are too small or too large to maintain adequate draft. Also, when obstructions such as bird nests, broken bricks, and ice block the pathways, the chimneys may become dysfunctional. Corrosion is also a common pitfall resulting from poor construction and installation of chimneys.

Non-insulated chimneys on exterior walls become very cold when combustion gases are absent. This usually causes condensation of moisture from the air resulting to breakages, cracks, leakages as well as blockages. Also, a missing cap seal can render chimneys faulty by permitting water leakages. Defective flashing, open-mortar joints, and wind-blow rain may send water into the chimney structure. It is common to find cracks on the walls of chimneys, especially when freezing climate persist. One other cause of defects in chimneys is their movement.

A wise person should not watch this happen while sitting down. This being the case, it would be nice to understand intently some of the causes of formation of cracks on chimneys. The first one is thermal expansion. The fireplace is usually under constant heat and so it is expected that the side walls subsequently expand.

The likely consequence as a result, is the formation of cracks, which start emanating from the mortar joints. Arguably, thermal expansions are common phenomena in masonry chimneys. Due to thermal expansions, stacks are fond of having massive cracks. This does not go slow on the interior flue either.

Actually, what happens is that hot air that rises up in the interior of chimneys heats the sidewalls, and since the flue is fairly narrow, faults and cracks in chimneys start forming slowly by slowly as time moves on. Mechanical harm is also another common cause of cracking walls. Smokestacks mounted antennas, tremors as well as blasts from adjacent mining areas cause stress in the walls thereby causing mechanical imperfections on sidewalls.

Smokestacks that have stayed long periods without being cleaned pose a potential fire hazards. This is because, creosote and heavy soot on the chimneys is a good fire-causing agent. The damaged, broken, and faulty chimney flues also pose imminent contingencies when they leak combustion gases into the building and may ignite fire sparks.




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