Chimney Chase Covers Near Woodmere

The Importance Of A Chimney Chase Cover?

The chase cover (or chase pan) is the square or rectangular system of aluminum that’s fitted to rest securely on top of a chimney chase, helping to keep water and other environmental issues out. The chase cover and chimney cap help keep the harmful issues — (including water, snow, leaves, debris and critters) — out of the fireplace and flue. Chimney chase covers are typically a rectangular-shaped piece that engulfs the top of your chimney made of brick, wood, vinyl or metal. Chase tops are only found on chases connected to factory-engineered fireplaces. The four main layouts for chimney chase tops are aluminum, stainless steel, galvanized steel and copper. Each of these products has its benefits and detriments.

One of the major benefits of an aluminum chimney chase cover is that it won’t rust, which is good for the overall longevity of the product. Stainless steel is by far the most robust product that an owner could find to use for a chimney. That being said, because it’s likely to last very long, it’s often worth the extra price. Galvanized steel will most certainly be your home’s budget option. Galvanized steel rusts easily, so you should have to replace the chimney chase cover within a few years. While stainless steel is the strongest product the owner may choose, copper is considered the most high-quality.

How Does A Chimney Chase Cap Become Troublesome?

Typically, a hole would let things in: that’s why an owner requires a chimney chase cover. The cover stalls things like precipitation, leaves, dirt and other debris from infiltrating your home’s chimney and falling into your fireplace and home. Continuous leaks of water from rain and snow, plus other conditions, could eventually cause structural leaks. Part of caring for your home’s chimney is knowing when it’s time to get your chimney chase cover repaired.

If a chase is destroyed or has taken significant wear and tear, then the chimney chase cover needs to be repaired. These two things might be easily spotted by reddish-brown stains around the top of your home’s chase. Once rust starts, the chimney chase cover only gets worse. So how could you know when you need to replace your chimney chase? A simple way to take care of this area of your home’s home is to schedule semi-annual chimney inspections. This inspection includes a close look at a roof, the chimney and the area surrounding it. Another sign that you need a new cover is finding water on the floor of your home’s fireplace. If you see any sign of water in your fireplace, a homeowner should call a chimney inspector right away to bar any further harm.

Checking For Chimney Chase Breakages

A chimney chase cover is a necessity to ensure the top of the chimney is watertight. A chimney chase is a structure that is most fgequently constructed to hide an ugly vent pipe running up the side of a home or through the roof. If your home’s existing chimney chase cover is starting to deteriorate, it would be a good idea to replace the chimney chase cover sooner rather than later to avoid additional complications that would be caused by a leak.

A chimney chase cover is a key defense against rain, snow and weather from infiltrating the chimney while still allowing the flue pipe to exit the chimney. If an 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 prevalent structure to be evaluated and inspected by a home inspector during the selling process of any home. If the chimney cover is in bad shape, the home inspector could include the chimney chase cover on the inspection report.

Chimney Chase Problems

It’s important for homeowners to not only understand the difference between a chimney crown, chase cover and chimney cap, but how chimney chase covers help safeguard their home and chimney. And when any of these components are gone or fail, the risk of chimney problems grows.

The chimney crown is the top level of the chimney. Due to its prime location, the chimney crown takes a ton of abuse from outside influences like the weather and environmental conditions. While the crown seals most of the chimney, the flue is still exposed. So having a crown alone is not enough to keep all water and debris out of the chimney.

The chase plays an important firefighting role in directing smoke and flying burning embers away from your home’s roof. Depending on your home’s home construction, the chase may be installed with brick, wood, vinyl or metal siding. 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. It’s mounted above the crown and is manufactured using stainless steel to wrap the flue inside a cage-like mesh allowing smoke to vent, but block outside product from getting into the chimney. It’s an optional accessory and may not have been installed when the chimney was originally constructed.

This can cause the masonry to decay and also rust important metal components such as the damper and smoke shelf leading to more costly repairs. These creatures (and other small debris) might clog the flue. This prevents the escape of risky fumes from a burning fireplace exposing residents in your home’s home to threatening, high levels of smoke and carbon monoxide. The force of a downdraft from an exposed flue should blast open fireplace doors pushing smoke, soot and ash into the house. Repair any missing or broken components as immediately as possible.

The Chimney Cover Repair Technicians

While an owner can certainly continue to learn, it’s best to contact a chimney sweep with any questions or concerns a homeowner might have. Our pros have the specialty, experience and commitment the owner requires to sustain a chimney and avoid future pricey leaks and repairs.

Our pros ask that an owner be careful whom an owner hire(s)! Clients should only allow any dangerous chimney to be worked on by a knowledgeable CSIA Certified Chimney sweep who should provide the owner with the proper service and suitable parts for a system. For instance, cross-breaks create a dome effect, allowing rain, debris to flow away from the chase cover rather than collecting on top of it. Unfortunately, not all covers feature this extremely beneficial design and people typically don’t realize that until it’s too late and the damage has already been done. Give Woodmere’s local roofing experts a call and let us handle all of a chimney’s demands.

CHIMNEY CHASE COVER INQUIRIES