Found 36 results for the keyword(s) ‘Chimney’

• Article

  Fire Safety & Installing Wood Burning Appliances

  Wood heating appliances get hot -- that's why we use them -- but they also burn down houses.  They are only safe if you install them safely.   -- Let's start with the fascinating process of how wood burns; -- and now let's see how that process can happen inside your walls or floors near woo...
• Article

  Paint peeling caused by a chimney flashing leak.

  John in Mississauga, Ontario has paint flaking off of his crown molding, and it seems to be related to snow on his roof. As we ran through the details, it turns out that the problem spot is right below a brick chimney that is poorly flashed where the roof meets it. He has put asphalt roof patch ...
• Article

  How do you put flashing on a chimney that doesn't have any?

  Henry e-mailed about the fact that he discovered that when they re-shingled his roof a couple of years ago (before he bought it), there were no flashings at all put on around the chimney. He wanted to know how to do a good job, with the least damage to existing shingles as possible. Actually it ...
• Article

  WHERE SHOULD I SEAL AND HOW?

  The smoke test described in the previous answer should be used to verify the presence of typical leaks and discover those peculiar to your own house. Before sealing, read the section on Ventilation to avoid any future condensation problems. The leaks high in the house are not necessarily the lar...
• Article

  Closing down an unused chimney.

  One of our viewers has removed a stove and has an unused chimney going up the outside of the house. The top has been capped off, what to do with the bottom? It is important to close off unused chimneys, whether they are metal or masonry, because if you don't carefully cap off the top, the rain ...
• Article

  Improving a wood chimney to stop backdrafting

    Rick from New Brunswick is having problems with his wood stove backdrafting and he wants to know if it will help to box in the chimney on the outside of the house. Backdrafting or difficult starting with wood burning appliances is often a problem and there are several entries in this database ...
• Article

  Insulating a Cathedral Ceiling - OVERVIEW

  Hello Jon, I have a cathedral ceiling with a shingled roof. If I insulate the roof air tight, will the shingles lift and curl as they do on poorly ventilated roofs? The other thought is leaving an 1 1/2 inch space between the roof deck and the insulation  and installing a ridge vent, which give...
• Article

  Storage and Water Heater Flue Pipes

  While visiting a viewer's basement we discovered two very dangerous things. She had mentioned that she had a heating duct that was disconnected. As we doug out the boxes and hanging coats that were in the way, we discovered a burn mark across a plastic coat cover as well as a burn right into the ...
• Article

  Does your contractor know about the furnace room combustion air damper?

  Many years ago, because of the prairie enforcement of the gas code provision that you had to supply fresh air to a furnace, an inventor in Alberta began marketing the Hoyme damper. This is a motorized damper that closes off that combustion air duct from the outdoors that dumps cold air into ...
• Article

  Oiling the barometric damper

  So what is a barometric damper? That is the strange swinging plate you find somewhere between your oil furnace or boiler and the chimney. Its function is to allow just the right amount of air into the flue pipe as the gasses go by to let the chimney perform its best.What goes wrong with a barom...