Keep Smoke Out Of Your Home & Enjoy A Safer Fire With Expert Smoke Chamber Repairs
Just above your firebox is your smoke chamber, which is an inverted funnel that takes all of that heat, smoke, moisture, and corrosive gas produced by the fire in your firebox, and funnels it up into the chimney flue so it can escape. The smoke chamber is generally the “weak link” of any fireplace system, and many times, they’re not built thick enough, they’re built incorrectly, or they lack proper clearance to combustibles.
Smoke Chamber Repair – Before & After
Like your firebox, your smoke chamber is exposed to some pretty high temperatures and some pretty corrosive byproducts of combustion, which can lead to damage, cracks, holes, and a rough surface. Not only can this type of damage prevent the smoke chamber from safely containing the heat and byproducts and keeping them away from nearby combustibles like framing and walls, but it can also prevent it from efficiently and effectively funneling those byproducts up into the flue. As a result, you may have smoke billowing back into your living space or be exposed to dangerous gases like carbon monoxide. In other words, a damaged smoke chamber can make for a very unsafe and unpleasant fireside experience.
But it’s not just damage from heat, byproducts, and age that can lead to issues with your smoke chamber. For decades, smoke chambers were built in a corbeled fashion, each section of the smoke chamber stepping inwards, one brick on top of the other, like a staircase. Modern building codes and fire safety organizations mandate that these corbeled smoke chambers be parged smooth, because the corbeled brick provides a rough path that slows the removal of dangerous gases and smoke.
Another common problem we see here in the Philadelphia area is that smoke chambers are incorrectly sized. The height of the smoke chamber should not be greater than the width of the firebox, but this is commonly the case.
But rest assured, whether your smoke chamber is starting to develop cracks and gaps or it was built incorrectly or in a corbeled fashion, we can repair and restore your smoke chamber for a safer, more efficient fireside experience.
Here at Lou Curley’s Chimney Service, we parge smoke chambers smooth using ChamberCoat, a UL listed smoke chamber restoration product from ChimneySaver. This product is designed to meet and exceed all national and building codes for smoke chamber repairs and:
- resists temperatures up to 2550 degrees F
- insulates smoke chambers to prevent heat transfer
- smooths jagged surfaces and corbeled smoke chambers
- reshapes smoke chambers that were built incorrectly
Schedule Your Inspection & Smoke Chamber Repair Today
Is it time to have your smoke chamber repaired or parged smooth? Call Lou Curley’s Chimney Service at 610-626-2439 to schedule an inspection with one of our CSIA-, NFI-, and F.I.R.E.-certified chimney pros. We’ll carefully inspect your smoke chamber and let you know what repairs we recommend. Call or fill out our online appointment request form today!
If you need a chimney leak repair, you can count on our chimney and fireplace repair technicians to find and fix the problem.