Have you started your spring cleaning this year? For many of us, spring is the time to refresh and renew, which means taking care of cleaning and maintaining our homes. Winter weather can be tough on the exterior of your home, especially your chimney. You may even notice that some bricks and mortar joints have cracked, chipped, or even broken away from the chimney. Anytime you have gaps or holes in your chimney, you are at a greater risk of water leaks, which is why it is so important to have this damage repaired as soon as possible. Neglecting this type of damage can lead to more extensive deterioration to the point of your chimney collapsing. This is why spring is the perfect time for exterior chimney repairs. Blue Ridge Chimney Services is proud to offer expert chimney masonry repair services, along with our other chimney maintenance and repair work. When you go ahead and schedule your annual chimney sweeping and inspection in the spring, we will be able to check out the condition of the exterior of your chimney and make recommendations for the repairs that are necessary to ensure the safety of your chimney. We would like to tell you how winter can damage your chimney and how we can repair any winter-related damage you may have.
How does winter weather damage my chimney?
Since masonry materials are naturally porous, the bricks and mortar joints of your chimney absorb water, which can become trapped inside. As the temperature drops in the winter, this trapped water freezes and expands within the masonry materials. This water thaws when the weather warms up, and the larger space left by the water can cause the bricks and mortar joints to crack, chip, and break apart. Repeated freeze/thaw cycles can create quite a bit of spalling damage to the structure of your chimney. As we mentioned above, leaving this damage unrepaired can end up causing even more structural problems. Spalling damage leads to a high risk for chimney water leaks, and waiting until the summer or fall can be hazardous. Spring brings heavy rains to the Shenandoah Valley, and all of that water can end up inside your chimney. Water leaks cause so many problems that the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) has named water as the greatest enemy of masonry chimneys. Fortunately, with our years of experience in chimney masonry repairs, Blue Ridge Chimney Services can take care of any winter-related damage your chimney may have suffered.
How can Blue Ridge Chimney Services repair this type of damage?
If the spalling damage is not too serious, we can use the age-old masonry technique of tuckpointing to replace cracked, chipped, and missing bricks and mortar joints. The trick to good tuckpointing work involves matching the color and composition of the existing chimney mortar to ensure an attractive result that will never look like a patch-up job. This technique consists of tucking new mortar in between the bricks with pointed tools. To be sure your chimney is both structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing, it is essential to have qualified professionals do the tuckpointing work. You can trust Blue Ridge Chimney Service to perform these masonry repairs by using the highest standards.
Along with tuckpointing, we also provide chimney rebuilds and renovations as well as chimney crown resurfacing and other chimney masonry services. Contact us at Blue Ridge Chimney Services to schedule an appointment for your annual chimney sweeping and inspection today. Our CSIA-certified chimney services will check out any exterior damage you may have and tell you exactly what repairs you need. We proudly serve the areas throughout the Shenandoah Valley with professional, courteous service.