Your fireplace’s chimney is designed to vent smoke and toxic gases up and away from you to prevent you from getting poisoned. Your chimney also directs excess heat from a fire up and out of your home. You can see your chimney has an important role to play in the function of your fireplace. A vital part of your chimney working the right way is its chimney liner.
A Chimney Liner goes inside your chimney and covers the interior from top to bottom. The liner protects the walls of your chimney from things like heat from a fire or rain that falls inside your chimney, and it also keeps toxic gases from seeping through your chimney and into your house. You can see how having a chimney liner is a vital part of a chimney and why it needs to be maintained.
The only way to know if your chimney liner is damaged is to have an inspection performed by a certified chimney inspector. Our chimney sweeps are Chimney Sweep Institute of America (CSIA) certified and know how to inspect your chimney and its liner. It’s standard to examine your chimney liner in level two and three inspections. Our chimney sweeps will use a specialized video camera to scan the interior of your chimney to see if the chimney liner has been punctured or if it has an area about to wear away.
Although you need to have an inspection done to know if your chimney liner is actually damaged, here are a few warning signs you may notice.
If you have had any signs of chimney liner problems, your chimney should be examined right away.
If your chimney liner is damaged, it puts your whole house at risk from fire and toxic gasses. Chimney liners must be replaced when they are damaged, and we will install a new chimney liner to take the place of the old one. We recommend using a stainless-steel chimney liner as a replacement. A stainless steel liner is the strongest liner available and will protect your masonry chimney from being broken down by heat or water.
Be sure that if you add a furnace to your chimney, you use a certified chimney sweep to do the job. When adding a furnace to your old masonry chimney with a terra cotta flue, remember that its condition may not be up to code. Adding a new furnace to an old masonry chimney without updating the liner will damage the terra cotta liner. A stainless steel chimney liner can handle the requirements of a new furnace. Inexperienced or dishonest chimney sweeps will install a furnace in a way that does not meet the current code.
A damaged chimney liner is not something to be taken lightly. If left alone, a damaged chimney liner could lead to a chimney fire or breathing in toxic fumes. Don’t put off having your chimney inspected. We offer chimney inspection and chimney liner installation services in Woodland Park CO, Colorado Springs CO, Nathrop CO, Antero Junction CO, Guffey CO, and Castle Rock CO; call us now at (719) 661-3277. One of our chimney experts can discuss having your chimney liner inspected and, if needed, replaced. Don’t wait for your chimney liner to break down; get in touch today.