With autumn approaching, it’s important to make sure that you’re getting things ready for winter. You’ll want to make sure your vehicle is winterized, your furnace is running, and your house is cleaned up. It’s important to make sure that your yard is looking good, any leaves are raked, and that your landscaping is cleaned up and neat. While you’re looking around your yard, making sure that everything is healthy and ready for fall, take a look at your chimney and see what kind of shape it’s in. There are some tell-tale signs that you may have chimney damage, and it’s important that you recognize this and get it fixed before the damage gets worse and starts to affect the productivity of your fireplace.

Possible Repairsrepairing old brick work

When you call Black Velvet Chimney, one thing that we’ll be looking for is the condition of the brickwork of your chimney. We’ll check whether there are any loose or missing bricks. If there are, your mortar is probably not in the best shape.

There are many things that can cause your mortar to deteriorate. Weathering is probably the number one culprit to cause your mortar to crumble. Just wind, rain, and sunshine can wear down mortar, and if there happens to be a freeze, it can exacerbate the problem of declining mortar conditions. Moisture hides in the pores of the brick and mortar, and if it freezes it expands, causing the pores to expand, which will weaken the structure of the mortar. If this happens, bricks will loosen and can even fall out. Normal home settlement can also cause weakening mortar, and this can also cause your walls and floors to warp, which can lead to more chimney damage. Other natural causes can cause problems with your mortar as well, such as plants and insect infestation.

Fixes

If you are having problems with weakened, crumbling mortar, give Black Velvet Chimney a call. After a thorough inspection, we may recommend tuckpointing. This process involves removing the old mortar and replacing it with new, strong mortar. Although this may seem like a simple procedure, there are special tools and techniques that enable the job to be done right and to make sure that the new mortar matches the old. That’s why it’s so important that you hire professionals that are Chimney Safety Institute of America certified like the sweeps at Black Velvet Chimney.

If you need tuckpointing, or if it has progressed to the point where the bricks are loose or even missing, we can take care of that. If it has progressed even farther and you need some major reconstruction or rebuilds, we are able to do that as well. At Black Velvet Chimney, we take our training and education seriously. We are Certified Chimney Professionals, Certified Chimney Reliners, and have recently become Fireplace Investigation Research and Education (F.I.R.E) certified inspectors. It’s clear we take our training and education seriously, and you can trust your chimney to our expert technicians. If you think you need chimney work done, give us a call soon and beat the fall rush for inspections and cleanings!