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Issue: 96 August 15, 2004
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Education:
Better
Understand Your Home and Those You Sale |
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The
Adventures of Wally Raindrop
Who
is Wally? |
| Chimney
Caps |
| Hello,
Wally Raindrop here. Hope you haven't
forgotten me (Don't remember? Click on
"Who is Wally? above).
Different from you, where the top of your
chimney is seldom, if ever, in view. I see
them all of the time. If you could see the
top of the chimneys in your community from
my view point, boy would you be shocked.
Hilton inspected a commercial building this
past week and was able to get a good photo
how the cap of most chimneys appear from my
perspective. Check this out:
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Now, when I hit the top of this sucker,
where do you think I am headed next? You got
it, right down into the chimney either
through the open flue or through the cracks
in the cap. What you see in this picture is
a mortar wash better known as the lazy mans
method of topping out a chimney. It is bad,
bad, bad and unfortunately how most
residential chimneys now and in the past are
done. Masonry mortar is designed to go
between the masonry not as a cap on top. In
every instance this is how it will ultimately
end up. What are the issues of concern here?
 | When me and all of my little
associates over the years make our way
down through the many cracks in your
chimney cap what do you think are the
results?
 | We go down the opening at the edge
of the flue liner freeze in cold
weather and crack the flue liner
which could lead to a fire. |
| We go down the other cracks, soak
the brick freeze and break the face
off of the brick. Oh, if your
chimney is constructed from salmon
brick (old and soft) look out, if I
keep visiting soon I will wash your chimney
away. |
| We soak the brick to the point of
expansion causing the chimney to
crack. |
| As if that is not bad enough we
continue through the masonry, past
the back side of the flashing (if
there is any) down into your attic
and home and make nasty little
stains on your chimney, fireplace
front and ceilings sometimes to the
point of causing white efflorescence
on the face of the fireplace or
causing the ceilings to fall in the
floor if not just plain look terrible. |
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| What about that big hole in the
center.
| There is nothing to stop us from
falling down to your damper, (if you
have one) and dripping incessantly
into your fireplace with all of the
black sticky creosote we pick up
along our path. Its not only pretty,
but smells really delicious as
well. |
| Oh, you have a furnace or boiler,
what fun, we will rust that little devil
up really good messing up all of the
metal flue pipe along our
route. |
| Then their is the little birdies
who just love to build nests in
these things and irritate the
occupants with their incessant music
and flapping wings. Nothing like
three or four baby birdies chirping
for their dinner while you are
attempting to enjoy yours in peace. |
| Did Hilton ever share with you
about the bird, bat and flying squirrel
that visited him through his chimney?
Nothing beats eating dinner as a bird
flies past your head or relaxing on your sofa
with your lover and noticing a
little fury creature crawling out the corner of
your fireplace or waking up at 3:00
AM with a bat swooping at your
head. |
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I could probably ramble on and on
but I think you have the picture by now.
What remains is what to do about it.
| Chimney Sweeps have materials they can
use to repair damaged caps. Some require
removing and replacing the damaged
mortar wash with a waterproof compound
and others simply patch up what is
present. Nether are permanent fixes and
must be reworked over time. |
| The best fix is to remove the mortar
wash and install a proper concrete cap.
This cap is sealed around the flue(s),
slopes from the flue(s) out, is several
inches thick, hangs over the chimney
edge with a drip to force me and all my
little friends down the outside of the
chimney where we belong keeping us from
causing harm. This
can be poured in place on top of the
chimney or precast on the ground and
lifted into place. They are heavy and
expensive hence the lazy mans reason for
the bad method pictured above. See the
proper method in the drawings below
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| Click on the drawing to for a
better view! |
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|  Those
little varmints, birds, bats, squirrels,
raccoons, opossums and such, not to
mention me, can be blocked out of the
flue(s) by installation of a cap over
the top of the flue with a screen around
it. These come in many forms from
concrete to metal (see some pictured on
the right). Hilton even installed one at
the Old Hickory Council of the Boy
Scouts of America office building (on
Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem)
using a huge rock off of the side of
Sauratown mountain installed using a
mega crane. Oh what memories of our
past together. |
Hope you learned a little about chimney
caps today. Next time we will deal with
other chimney issues. The cap is only what
tops it off. There is much, much more you
should know about. |
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Thoughts for the week...
You know you are a real
Winston-Salem native if:
You
sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts
for a school or church
fundraiser
before those glazed doughnuts went
global.
My
tiny little Realtor Bride eats one a
week for her mental health.
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