Prolong the Life of Your Chimney With Professional Tuckpointing Services

Tuckpointing refers to a process that involves replacing or repairing your chimney's mortar. Tuckpointing should only be completed by an expert. Although the bricks in your chimney are meant to last for a long time, the mortar can easily decay or become damaged. Using your chimney causes normal wear and tear of mortar joints. These joints hold the bricks in place and holds the chimney upright. Therefore, any damage that occurs to your chimney's brickwork can be extremely detrimental and cost a lot of money and time to rectify.

Since any damage on your chimney is expensive, you can apply the use of professional tuckpointing services in Chicago to prevent excessive damage and costs, like stitching a tear in cloth before it’s extensively broken down. You need to seek expert advice whenever you suspect any damage to your chimney, which might be a leak or a break in the mortar. As the mortar wears out, you need to repair it as soon as possible to prevent paying for a costly chimney rebuild.

How does it work?

A professional masonry grinds the old mortar that holds the bricks together. This is done carefully and tactfully without causing damage to the entire structure. Once they have removed the old worn out mortar, the professionals replace it with new, stronger mortar. Tuckpointing should be completed by a professional to give it a neat finishing; it can look new when carried out carefully and professionally.

Seamless blending:

The mortar has to be inserted well in order to look great. To achieve this, we use the right color that matches the bricks and the mortar. It's supposed to blend seamlessly without showing any color breaks or crevices, and that is why you need only a professional Tuckpointing Company in Chicago to do it for you.

New mortar works better:

Remember that as times goes, your chimney's mortar ages and wears out very quickly. When you notice that the mortar is deteriorating, it's time you call a professional person to fix it using a certified tuckpointing process. When completed by a professional, your chimney can look as good as new. It will also prevent more damages and keep your chimney performing smoothly.

Tuckpointing insulates your home:
Tuckpointing doesn't only preserve your chimney but also protects your home, it acts to shield your home from raging winds that enter through the chimney. Proper tuckpointing closes all the cracks and crevices used by intruding bugs to your home; it also helps during the winter season since helps vent the smoke.

The above point discusses how tuckpointing can prolong the life of your chimney. Having a chimney last a lifetime is realistic, especially when you employ the services of a professional tuckpointing company such as Capital Chimney Corp. You can read about our tuckpointing Chicago services here: http://capitalchimneychicago.com/services/tuckpointing/

Common Problems with Chimneys

There are many depressing things in life, and one of them is going home on a cold evening, starting a roaring fire, and having smoke fill the room. If this happens to you, you will have to identify the issue and hire a professional to fix it.

The following are common problems and solutions of chimneys.

• Obstructed or Dirty Chimney: Have it inspected and swept by a professional so that it may be checked for any possible obstructions like tree branches or birds' nests. Dirty chimneys may also prevent smoke from properly exiting the chimney.
• Tuckpointing: The bricks and mortar composing a chimney often take substantial amounts of damage because they are exposed to extreme weather conditions. If you notice cracking, flaking, or breaking bricks, or if your chimney has started leaning to one side, it is imperative to hire professional tuckpointing services.
• Closed Damper: Before you start a fire, ensure the damper is open completely. When unsure, shine a flashlight up your chimney so as to see if its metal damper plate is still open.
• Fuel-Cut firewood should be aged at least one year. It ought to be kept sheltered from rain in order to dry out.
• Fire Grate Placement: Fire grate is where you place the wood in the firebox, and it should be put as far back in firebox as possible. Often, it is necessary to raise it with bricks. This will get more air under it for better circulation while raising the height of fire.
• When the Chimney is Not Built to Proper Dimensions: Oftentimes, the chimney opening is just too tall or large, particularly in relation to its flue size. This may make the smoke go up the chimney, or back into the room. The answer can be adding a metal smoke guard to the top of the chimney’s opening, because it shrinks the opening’s size. When the fireplace lacks adequate height, you might need to raise its height to improve the draw.
• Central Heating System: When the heater is running, you’ll lose the draw from chimney and this will trigger drafting issues. This is due to the fact that central air furnaces are quite strong even if air intake vent for central heating system is not found in the same room as the chimney, it’ll suck outside air down the fireplace and will cause it to smoke when there’s a fire going. Don’t run your heater when the chimney is in use!
• Air Pressure Difference: Since houses are build much tighter now, air pressure inside your house may be different from the outside, and won’t allow for efficient draw of air via the flue. This is going to occur when the house is retrofitted with new tighter doors and windows. To minimize its smoking problem, you should crack open a door or window, preferably on the same level as the chimney or in in the same room.