Parge Your Chimney Smoke Chamber This Summer
Summer is undoubtedly the best time of the year to do any chimney repair services and maintenance on your to-do list. This is because you’re not using your chimney during the warmer months, making it the safest time for your chimney sweep to access the entire fireplace and chimney system. Of the repairs that we do, parging is by far the most common. If you’re in Mercer County, New Jersey, or the surrounding areas, here is what you need to know about parging and how working with a certified technician from Mercy County Chimney Services can make all the difference come winter.
What is parging?
Parging is a process where your smoke chamber is altered to be smoother inside of the fireplace. Some smoke chambers are built sturdily but leave a large number of masonry joints and bricks exposed. During a parging service, your chimney sweep will correct this design flaw. Those edges that are jagged and fixing this issue will keep your chimney free of ash, soot, and creosote from accumulating over time. Creosote is highly flammable and causes a safety hazard for your home. Especially in corbelled smoke chambers, creosote can build up in areas hard to reach with regular maintenance. Those corners are often unreachable without the proper tools. Therefore, it is suggested that you have your smoke chamber parged to rid your system of this hazardous material. To parge your chimney, you have a couple of options. The two techniques that we use at Mercer to do this are casting and spray on. Continue reading to learn more about those methods.
Parging Types
Casting (also known as cast-in-place) is where new masonry is added directly to the existing space. We take molds of the areas. No smoke chamber parging services will be the same since your mold is unique to your specific system. These molds mean that you are getting a fix that is intended for your smoke chamber. Castin-in-place can also help provide additional reinforcement to the overall structure of your fireplace.
Spray-on parging is the other option you have to get your smoke chamber functioning at its best. When we apply the spray, it is done directly to the old masonry. This happens to be an effective way to improve the chimney’s safety, and it also increases the structural integrity of the entire system.
Not Sure You Need Parging?
When in doubt about the safety of your smoke chamber, give a professional chimney sweep a call to schedule a chimney inspection. In our experience, many chimneys either have never been parged. You may not even know that it is necessary or that creosote is building up over time. Don’t hesitate to get this done because your health and safety could be at risk. Give us a call today at 609-802-5288 to start the process. Not only will your chimney function better after this service, but it will also make your routine maintenance quicker and easier in the future.