Chimney liner, chimney cap, chimney crown, dampers, firebox. These are some of the parts of your chimney system, and when you call Ceaser Chimney Service, LLC to come in and do your annual inspection and cleaning, you can rest easy knowing that all these components will be checked out carefully and that any repairs necessary will be available to you. Another important part of your chimney system is the smoke chamber.
Purpose of a Smoke Chamber
The smoke chamber lies above your dampers and leads to the chimney liner. The purpose of this area is to have a place for the chimney gases and smoke to mix and be directed out of the firebox and into the narrower liner area. This keeps smoke from filtering back into the interior of the house and making your room smell nasty. The smoke chamber is uniquely designed, being larger on the bottom and gradually getting narrower to fit the opening of the chimney liner. The back is generally straight to meet the liner, while the front and slides are sloped, narrowing the chamber as it gets higher to meet the chimney liner.
What Can Go Wrong
This seems pretty straight forward. Although the design is excellent to help guide those gases up and out while also helping to keep draft at an ideal level, the slope of the front and side walls can sometimes be a problem. In order to get that slope, the walls are sometimes corbelled, and that’s where the problem comes in. Corbelling is the practice of layering the brick with each level hanging over the level below by just a fraction, so that a slope takes place from bottom to top. It would seem as though this would be the logical way to narrow the smoke chamber. The problem is that it leaves an uneven surface, and this makes it more difficult for the smoke to flow evenly out of the smoke chamber and into the liner.
Parging
According to the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), the most common problem associated with smoke chambers is corbelled brick, and the best solution for that is parging. Parging refers to the practice of applying mortar over the uneven surface of the brick to make it smooth, which will make for a more efficient transfer of smoke out of your home. But even if your smoke chamber has already been parged, problems can still exist. Wear and tear over time and the high heat from your fire can cause cracks in the parging. If you’ve undergone a chimney fire, chances are you have damage to the parging as well. If any cracks are present, it’s important to have your smoke chamber re-parged.
Get it Done Right
At Ceaser Chimney Service, we understand the importance of keeping your smoke chamber in a good state of repair. Call us today and we’ll make sure that your smoke chamber is properly parged. Count on Ceaser Chimney Service for the best service out there!