Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Chimney cleanings are not just important for wood-burning appliances. Oil and gas-fired appliances, as well as pellet stoves, should also be inspected and cleaned on an annual basis to remove any debris or buildup and to optimize your heating system’s performance.

According to the Fire Protection Agency, chimneys should be inspected yearly and, if necessary, cleaned. The amount of buildup in your chimney will vary depending on how often you use it, the construction of the chimney, the design of the appliance, and the type of fuel.

We believe spring is the best time to get your chimney cleaned for a few reasons. Think of the old saying, “The early bird catches the worm.” When you clean your chimney in the spring and beat the fall rush, you get convenience of scheduling and often save money (we offer discounted prices in the spring as an incentive). In addition, if the inspection shows that repairs are needed, you are allowing yourself plenty of time to get them done before the next heating season. Spring is also best for prolonging your chimney’s life. The deposits that build up in your chimney are acidic and eat away at the inside of the chimney; removing them earlier in the year (after the heating season) will result in less deterioration. Finally, cleaning your chimney early in the year can eliminate odors caused by creosote and ash in your chimney, keeping your home smelling fresh. Read more in our blog post on Angie’s List. (link)

Here’s what you can expect when you choose Chimney Savers for your cleaning and inspection needs.

Who? We send only fully-trained and nationally certified chimney sweeps to your home. Our chimney sweeps are not only CSIA-certified - the industry gold standard for cleaning and inspection - but are honest, knowledgeable, and friendly.

What? When our chimney sweeps first arrive at your home, they will introduce themselves and will ask you to show them your chimney and heating appliance. Before beginning any work, they will lay down drop cloths and set up a HEPA (High‐Efficiency Particulate Air) vacuum to ensure the house is left spotless. Then they use state-of-the-art equipment to clean, inspect, and diagnose any issues throughout the chimney system. Finally, they will compile their findings -including photographs of your chimney – and recommendations in a report for your records.

How long? A chimney inspection and cleaning will usually be done in less than one hour, but can last as long as two, depending on the complexity and design of the system in your home.

Where? We will need access to all areas of the house that the chimney runs through. This includes the area around the appliance(s), the basement where the bottom of the chimney is, the attic, and the roof.

This is referring to the three levels of inspection outlined by the National Fire Protection Association. NFPA 211 is the standard upon which certified chimney sweeps base their services. Each level of inspection covers specific items depending on the individual appliance and venting system. Please read the explanation of the three levels of inspections and what services your chimney service technician should provide for each level. Or for more information, visit [csia link].

Level 1 Inspection: If your appliance or your venting system has not changed and you plan to use your system as you have in the past, then a Level 1 inspection is recommended. In a Level 1 inspection, your chimney service technician will examine all readily-accessible portions of the chimney exterior, interior and accessible portions of the appliance and the chimney connections.

Level 2 Inspection: A Level 2 inspection includes everything in a Level 1 inspection, plus the accessible portions of the chimney exterior and interior including attics, crawl spaces, and basements. Level 2 inspection also includes inspection by video scanning to thoroughly examine the inside of your chimney. This kind of inspection is recommended anytime you buy or sell a house, as well as after a chimney fire or house fire.

Level 3 Inspection: A Level 3 inspection is designed to uncover structural damage or problems in concealed areas of the chimney. In addition to everything in a Level 1 and a Level 2 inspection, it includes the removal of certain components of the building or chimney (e.g., chimney crown, interior chimney wall) when necessary. This would only be done to gain access to concealed areas that are suspected of being hazardous. A Level 3 inspection would likely be recommended if there is damage to your home because of a chimney fire or severe storm.

Yes! We know aesthetics are important. We encourage homeowners to work with our masons to come up with the best design for their home. With multiple materials and colors to choose from, you have the power to customize the look of your new chimney.

A masonry heater resembles a large stove, but is made almost completely of masonry, most commonly soapstone. It is fired periodically — typically only a few hours per day. The heat from this short, but extremely hot, fire travels throughout channels in the heater. This heat is stored as "thermal mass" in the masonry and gradually radiates through the house.

Visit the Masonry Heater Association of North America website to learn more. 

Masonry heaters are the most efficient wood burning system on the market. They are best suited for an open floor plan, and if you are planning on building an energy-efficient house, this system is worth its weight in gold.  A masonry heater designed for the correct square footage house will not only substantially cut down or eliminate oil dependency, but it will also use much less wood than a wood stove would typically use to heat the same amount of space.

Visit the Masonry Heater Association of North America website to learn more. 

These two terms are often used interchangeably but they mean different things. A wash is a thin layer of concrete material, usually less than 4” thick, that forms a slope from the flue opening to the edge of the bricks. In contrast, a typical crown is over 4” thick and extends out past the edge of the brick. A crown is formed and poured on top of the chimney, and usually has a drip edge built in to its underside to prevent any water from ever entering the masonry below it.

A concrete crown is far superior to a wash. A concrete crown will overhang the chimney and, with a proper drip edge, will allow water to wash off the sides of the chimney and not run down the face of the brick. Much like the eaves on your house, a properly built crown will extend the life of the masonry on your chimney.

An expansion joint is a flexible joint between the flue tiles that extends through the top of the chimney and the crown or wash. As flue tiles heat up and cool down they expand and contract. The expansion joint allows the tile to do just that, without cracking the crown. Without an expansion joint the crown of your chimney will eventually crack and fail.

Crown Coat is a premixed, brushable, flexible waterproofing seal that is used to repair damaged chimney crowns by stopping water penetration through the crown. Just as with Flash Seal, we prefer to completely replace crowns if they are found to be damaged. In cases where there is severe damage, Crown Coat cannot be used because there is nothing for the coat to stick to. In less severe cases, however, Crown Coat can be a cost-effective solution.

Flashing can be made of sheet metal, lead, and/or copper. It is a term that describes the combination of two integral parts. The first part is the “step flashing,” which consists of L-shaped pieces of sheet metal that are woven in with the shingles to prevent rain from entering between the roof and the chimney. The second part is known as “counter flashing.” This layer is commonly constructed of lead or copper and is embedded into the masonry and then hangs over the step flashing. Counter flashing prevents rain from getting behind the step flashing, thus sealing the chimney. In the case of standing seam roofs, the step flashing will be constructed of the roofing material.

No. Leaks are most often caused by water penetrating the masonry structure above the roofline. In these cases, waterproofing the masonry above the roofline can solve leaks where flashing was thought to be the culprit (see masonry waterproofing for more information).

Yes. A product called Flash Seal can be used to solve problem leaks around the base of chimneys, stacks, and vents. It works by forming a flexible waterproof membrane. It’s formulated for permanent adhesion to asphalt shingles, metal flashings, brick, and other chimney and roofing materials. It remains permanently flexible and has a seven-year warranty when used with Flash Seal Reinforcement Fabric. That said, we prefer to repair the flashing with proper step flashing and counter flashing techniques and reserve the use of Flash Seal for quick fixes or for special cases where lead cannot be installed.

A smoke chamber is the area above the fireplace firebox (where you see the fire) and below the chimney flue. This area funnels smoke from the fireplace opening into the liner of the chimney. The smoke chamber is the one of the most important parts of a fireplace system – and is commonly constructed improperly. Chimney Savers employs several techniques to parge (or coat) this smoke chamber, allowing your fireplace to work more efficiently and safely. Read more about parging and parging techniques in our blog post, All About Smoke Chamber Parging. 

A firebox is the area of the masonry that contains the fire in your fireplace. Although the bricks found in this area are usually rated to withstand very hot temperatures, they can still degrade over time. During your annual inspection, we pay close attention to this area, and our staff of masons can rebuild or repoint any damage to your fireplace firebox.

Is your fireplace smoking every time you light your fire? Or maybe just during certain weather conditions? Don’t let a smoky fireplace ruin an otherwise great experience. Our CSIA certified technicians know the right questions to ask to get to the root of your fireplace performance problems. We can also offer you tips and tricks that will make using your fireplace a breeze. 

In most cases, yes. Believe it or not, water – not fire – does the most damage when it comes to the deterioration of your chimney over time. Keeping water out of the chimney is essential, as well as keeping it off of the external masonry. Chimney caps also prevent animals, like birds and squirrels, from making a home inside your chimney. In some cases, installing a chimney cap can lead to draft problems, so it is important to have a qualified chimney service technician evaluate your system before installing a chimney cap.

Chimney caps are a tricky subject because each chimney has a different design, different uses, and varying draft conditions. We do not always recommend chimney caps because they can potentially have an adverse effect on draft. In masonry chimneys with terracotta tile liners, rain falling down the chimney is usually absorbed by the masonry before it reaches the basement. This depends on the size of the chimney flue and amount of rainfall. We recommend having your chimney inspected by a certified chimney sweep to weigh the pros and cons of a chimney cap.

There are many different styles of chimney caps to choose from. Caps range in size from those that cover just the opening of a single chimney flue to those that overhang the entire chimney. You can also choose from materials such as stainless steel, copper, and powder-coated stainless steel. Finally, the shape and style of the lids varies greatly – check out our gallery above to see which style catches your eye!

In most cases, no. A properly designed chimney cap still allows air to flow out of the chimney without restriction. However, a chimney system already suffering from a draft problem may not be a good candidate for a rain cap, as it could exacerbate the problem. We strongly recommend having a qualified chimney service technician perform an inspection of your system before installing a rain cap.

Yes, all the stainless steel chimney caps that we install come with a lifetime guarantee from the manufacturer.

Cast-in-Place chimney liners are ideal for chimneys that are unlined and have compromised structural integrity. This is common in many historic restoration chimneys. See our cast-in-place page for more details.

Oftentimes, when relining an old historic fireplace, a common round chimney liner cannot be used due to the original long, rectangular flue passageway. A custom rectangular chimney liner must be fabricated and installed in order to have the fireplace function properly.

Our experienced technicians can evaluate and retrofit old dampers, if desired, in order to keep as much of the original characteristics of the chimney as possible.

We offer a variety of aesthetically-pleasing rain caps, including bluestone, concrete, and historic chimney pots, as well as custom copper and painted shrouds.

Matching the brickwork and mortar colors are extremely important in any chimney repair/restoration project. We source our materials from multiple distributers in order to offer you several options and ensure that the bricks and mortar color are a match to the original design. We also carry and store reclaimed antique bricks from various past projects for even more options.

Chimney Savers strongly recommends rigid or heavy wall liners for wood-burning appliances because they last longer, perform better, and collect less creosote, making them safer than their light wall counterparts.

The type of insulation required is based on several factors, such as the type of appliance the chimney liner is venting and the clearance (i.e., distance) that the chimney has to combustible material (e.g., wood framing around the chimney).

There are two types of insulation on the market for stainless-steel chimney liners. The first type is called “poured-in insulation.” Chimney Savers does not offer poured in insulation, because we don’t believe that it should ever be installed in a chimney. If you are curious as to why and would like to learn more, click here to read our blog post.

The second type is called “insulation wrap.” Basically, it is a foil-faced ceramic blanket, which is wrapped around the liner before it is installed. Once this blanket is wrapped around the liner, a mesh sleeve is pulled on, covering the insulation wrap and providing a layer of protection. This mesh sleeve keeps the insulation from ripping as it is lowered down the chimney. A ½-inch thick insulation wrap is the ideal way to insulate a stainless steel liner because it keeps higher heat in the chimney and away from combustibles, as well as reducing any condensation that may occur inside the chimney liner.

Did you know that, according to NFP211 codes and standards, a masonry chimney with a tile liner must have a 2” clearance to combustibles? In other words, there must be 2 inches from the outside bricks on the chimney to combustible materials (e.g., wood and fiberglass insulation) throughout the house. We have found that most chimneys do not comply with this code. By installing an insulated stainless steel chimney liner you reduce the required clearance to 0 (zero) inches – meaning there can be combustible materials actually touching the chimney!