Your fireplace has many parts that help keep it safe and efficient to burn a fire. The damper system can opens up the passageway to your chimney. This keeps smoke out of your home. Or, you can keep the cold air out of your home during times when there is no fire burning. The smoke chamber compresses the smoke and guides it into the chimney without allowing a backdraft to occur. Another important part of your chimney is the chimney liner.

Purpose of the Chimney Liner

There are three main purposes that your chimney liner holds:

  • it keeps the brick and mortar of your chimney protected from the negative effects of the corrosive released in smoke.
  • it keeps the flammable items that surround your fireplace safe from the possibility of fire from the heat of the chimney.
  • the damper helps with efficiency because it makes your chimney the correct size for getting byproducts of your fire out through your chimney and allowing enough draft for your fire to burn properly. If your liner is correctly sized, it will also help keep creosote buildup down.

How To Determine if Your Chimney Needs Relining

Because your chimney liner is such an important part of your chimney system, it’s important that you make sure that it is in good working condition. The problem is, this isn’t so easy to determine on your own. At Chim-Cheroo Chimney Service, we have the know-how, the experience, and the equipment to check out your chimney system and make sure that it is not cracking, breaking, or in some cases, even nonexistent! We can use video equipment to get right in and see what condition your chimney liner is in and then make recommendations as to whether your lining needs to be replaced.

Types of Chimney Lining

The type of liner you have can be determined by different things. If you have a chimney that has an offset flue, you’ll want to use a flexible liner or one that has angles to conform to the angles of your chimney. For a straight up-and-down chimney, you can use a rigid metal liner. For a chimney that gets lots of use, a clay tile chimney liner is an excellent option. Clay liners can last up to 50 years or more, so for long-lasting durability, this is the way to go. Many older homes already have clay tile liners.

Clay liners can get cracks, however, and this is why we use HeatShield. HeatShield is a product that can be used to seal cracks or resurface clay tile liners. Before this product was developed, if your clay liners cracked or had holes, the best option was to reline your chimney. But using HeatShield allows you to keep your clay tile liner. It ensures that your chimney’s interior is protected from the effects of burning a fire. Here at Chim-Cheroo Chimney Service, we have been trained in using this terrific product and would love to help you seal up any cracks in your clay tile liner.