Chimney Chase Covers Near Old Westbury

What A Chimney Chase Cover Avoids

The chase cover (or chase pan) is the square or rectangular piece of metal that’s fitted to function securely on top of a chimney chase, helping to keep water and other environmental elements out. The chase cover and chimney cap help keep the bad elements — (including water, snow, leaves, debris and critters) — out of the fireplace and flue. Chimney chase covers are similar to a metal chimney crown. Chimney chase covers are regularly also referred to as chase pans or chase tops. Chase tops are only found on chases connected to factory-installed fireplaces. Chimney chase covers come in several products.

Aluminum is a softer metal and might not hold up as well against the inclement issues. Stainless steel is by far the most robust material that an owner may find to use for the chimney. That being said, because it’s predisposed to last very long, it’s often worth the extra price. If an owner need to replace a rusty, leaky cover immediately – it might be a good option when your bank account isn’t prepared for a huge, significant bill. Galvanized steel rusts easily, so you might have to replace the chimney chase cover within a few years. While stainless steel is the strongest material an owner can choose, copper is considered the most high-quality.

Repairing Your Chimney Chase Cover

Having a chimney essentially means having a hole in the roof of a home. While water certainly doesn’t mix well with fire, a chase cover goes far beyond simply keeping your roaring fireplace going. Continuous leaks of water from rain and snow, plus other conditions, might eventually cause structural issues. Part of caring for a chimney is knowing when it’s time to get the chimney chase cover replaced.

The most familiar cause of damage comes from corrosion and rust. These two things will be easily spotted by reddish-brown stains around the top of your home’s chase. Eventually, a homeowner could take on more significant harm and leaks from a leaky chimney chase and that could only lead to more internal chimney trouble. So how should you know when a homeowner need to replace the chimney chase? Professionals should come out to the home once a year to do a thorough check of your home’schimney structure. This inspection includes a close look at the roof, your chimney and the area surrounding it. Another sign that a homeowner need a new cover is finding water on the floor of your fireplace. If the owner see any sign of water in a fireplace, the owner should call a chimney inspector right away to prevent any further damage.

Chimney Chase Cover Issues To Check For

If an owner have a wood-framed chimney chase, you most certainly need a chimney chase cover. A chimney chase is a structure that is most commonly constructed to hide an ugly vent pipe running up the side of a home or through the roof. If an owner may catch it soon enough, an owner can avoid any additional costly repairs.

The top of the cover should have cross breaks – which will redirect all the water off the top of the chimney. If the owner can see rust stains running down the siding of the chimney, it’s likely the rust was caused by the chase cover being old. The chimney is a popular structure to be evaluated and inspected by a home inspector during the selling process of any home. If the chimney cover is in defective shape, the home inspector can include the chimney chase cover on the inspection report.

Spotting Damaged Chimney Parts

Your chimney is a workhorse constantly exhaling smoke, fumes and other contaminants while you’re enjoying the warmth of your fireplace or wood stove. Together, these three critical components are the most visible, forming a protective barrier to keep water, small animals and debris out of the chimney and fireplace.

It’s typically completed from leftover mortar or cement during chimney construction and is the basic first line of defense for protecting the chimney from its most risky threat: water. When exactly installed and supported, the sloped surface transports much of the water away from the chimney. Due to its prime location, the chimney crown takes a ton of abuse from outside influences like the weather and environmental factors. If damages to the crown are not discovered and replaced in a timely manner, the brick masonry may begin to soften, decay and eventually break off the chimney.

The structural housing between the roof line and the chimney crown is the chase. Since aluminum chase covers are more prone to rusting than stainless steel, especially in coastal areas with high levels of salinity in the air, chimney chase covers need to be inspected regularly. The chimney cap acts similar to an umbrella to help impede snow, rain, water, birds, animals and debris from getting inside the flue. Most homeowners could consider the chimney cap to be an indispensable safety device.

The chimney cap is of particular importance. Without it, the flue and fireplace are exposed to the external factors. Also, small birds, squirrels, raccoons and other little critters are attracted to exposed chimneys for cover against predators. This hampers the escape of noxious fumes from a burning fireplace exposing habitants in the home to harmful, high levels of smoke and carbon monoxide. With the right weather conditions, burning embers from the fireplace should be sucked through the chimney and land on a roof and start a fire. Homeowners are urged to have their chimney cap, chimney crown and chase cover inspected annually.

Expressway: Old Westbury’s Chimney Chase Repair Experts

Not everyone has the time or ability to be a chimney expert. If you’re in the Long Island area, schedule an appointment with Expressway or give Expressway Roofing & Chimney a call to address the chimney needs .

We ask that the owner be careful whom a homeowner hire(s)! Property owners should only allow any dangerous chimney to be worked on by a knowledgeable CSIA Certified Chimney company who will provide the owner with the proper service and suitable parts for the system. Not all chase covers are created equally! Water and other buildup left to accumulate on your chase cover will result in rusting, sagging and warping of the cover – rendering the chimney chase cover ineffective and leaving your home’s chimney vulnerable to intrusion of water, animals and other environmental factors. Give Old Westbury’s local roofing experts a call and let Expressway Roofing & Chimney handle all of your chimney’s requirements.

CHIMNEY CHASE COVER INQUIRIES