ADDITIONAL SERVICES
We offer a full range of responses when animals get into or around your chimney.
- Raincaps are the best and most cost-effective preventative action.
- Raccoons — cute but a heap of trouble. They love to seek shelter and security on the smokeshelf behind your fireplace damper where they birth their litters. Soon you'll hear the high pitched squeaks of their brood. Meanwhile the urine and feces and roundworms build up, and rabies is an issue. We'll chase the mama out, extricate the babies and leave them outside in a safe place for the mama coon to retrieve later, and then clean the chimney — yuch! Warn your neighbors that they're headed their way. Then you'll need a meshed raincap!
- Squirrels — build nests and block off chimneys and then sometimes find their way into your house, especially if they fall down and can't get back up the chimney. Dead squirrels smell really bad! We chase 'em out and clean the chimney and put on a cap.
- Birds — sit around up top, defecate on roof, chimney and damper, and (oddly) peck holes in flashing. Sometimes they fall down in or get stuck part way down blocking the flue. Chimney swifts love chimneys and build their small nests, sticking them onto the chimney sides. Since they are a protected species, we can't clean or line the chimney during their nesting times, June through August! We'll clear out unwanted or trapped visitors and, again, cap your chimney.
- Warning —Blocked Flues
- With wood you will have probably just unpleasantness, smoke damage, and smells.
- With gas or oil you may have carbon monoxide backup with sickness, brain damage, even death.
sometimes brings us face-to-face with
other risks like this red fox looking to
score some dinner. This photo taken
February 2010 on our client's back deck.
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picutre of tile damage taken with video equipment |
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INSURANCE CLAIMS
What kind of damage is claimable on your homeowner’s insurance?
Anything that is caused by a specific event rather than gradual wear and tear.
EXAMPLES:
Chimney fire damage
Lightning strike
House fire
Storm damage
Tree falling
Sliding ice
Animal invasion
We’ll come take a look at your chimney, inside and out, using our videocamera, as needed, and write up a thoughtful, detailed estimate, along with appropriate photos, for your insurance company. We are then available to discuss our findings and plan for action with your claims adjuster and then readily available to do the necessary chimney work. If you are at risk, uncomfortable or highly inconvenienced we will drop whatever else we are doing and move extremely quickly to remedy your situation!
Chimney fire damage is frequently encountered among our clientele. A chimney fire often generates heat of 2100° F., and while it doesn’t usually damage a house with a clay tile-lined chimney, it often does crack up the flue tile because of thermal shock. These cracks may be only hairline in nature after the tile cools and they close back up. But a cracked tile liner has lost its full functional ability to contain the products of combustion – it may well open up dramatically during future heating cycles. Your insurance company never wants you to operate with such a compromised liner, so coverage is usually pretty routine.
NOTE: Often the fine nature of neat stress cracks renders them invisible to the untrained eye or without appropriate lighting or video observation. Always call a chimney professional after a chimney fire occurrence (after you notify your fire department).
Also tile liner cracks cannot be repaired (as some masons may tell you) by judicious application of some high heat refractory cement. The refractory will fail during subsequent heating cycles. Usually a full relining is necessary. Most insurance company representatives understand this. One irony of chimney fire repair with a full relining is that the new, round, insulated liner is far superior to the old tile liner!
REAL ESTATE INSPECTIONS --
WHEN BUYING A HOUSE
When you are buying a house and enter into a purchase and sale agreement, you usually have 10 to 15 days to get any inspections done, prior to finalizing your agreement and moving ahead to closing. Most buyers know to get inspections of the whole house by a general home inspection company and then specific inspections of things like termites, septic systems and radon emissions. Too often chimney considerations are ignored at this time.
Most realtor associations acknowledge the important code recommendations of National Fire Protection Association Standard 211, which requires a “Level II” inspection “upon sale or transfer of the property” (NFPA 211, Table 14.3.1); and realtors, when being thorough, will usually recommend that a separate chimney inspection be done as part of the overall inspection scenario.
This inspection by a CSIA certified chimney service professional will carefully examine the chimney above the roofline, in the attic, throughout the house and in the basement, checking on overall repair and code worthiness, with an eye to maximum safety and performance. All heating systems – like central heat, water heaters, fireplaces and heating stoves – should be examined and at least partially disconnected for thorough observation. When we perform a “Level II”, we will also observe issues of clearances and proper masonry construction. We are particularly concerned about whether all chimneys are lined. Our comprehensive report will include pictures and estimates of attendant costs, and it will be emailed, faxed and/or mailed to you and your real estate agent within 24 hours of the time of inspection (often within a few hours!). The usual cost for this service is $250.00, but small, simple houses may cost less and large, tall, complicated houses with multiple chimneys may cost more. Please try to give us a few days notice to schedule an appointment, but we can usually respond to whatever your time frame may be when you are “in a pinch”!