For many homeowners, spring ushers in a season of home maintenance and improvements. If your chimney needs to be repaired, the start of spring means it is time to start planning for those repairs.
Here are some reasons spring is the time to plan for chimney repairs:
- Better weather. Winter is no time for chimney repairs. A mason or chimney technician might be able to work out a wintertime repair in dire circumstances, but by far, spring’s warmer temperatures and drier weather makes it a better time for chimney repairs. That’s especially true for masonry repairs; masonry materials require warmer, drier weather for proper curing.
- Easier scheduling. Most people light their last fire of the season and quickly put their fireplaces and chimneys out of their minds until late summer or early fall, when they begin to prepare for the next winter’s fires. That makes spring the perfect time for chimney repairs because chimney companies are less busy. That means they’ll be able to schedule your repairs quickly.
- Wintertime chimney damage. Chimneys deal with a lot during the winter: high winds, wet weather, freezing temperatures and the extreme heat of your fireplace. That means that chimney’s face the potential for a lot of damage during the winter months. That makes spring the right time to damage winter chimney repairs, before the damage worsens or causes problems with your fireplace or your home’s structure.
- Ample time for improvements. When you address chimney repairs or improvements in the spring, you have plenty of time to have your chimney fixed or upgraded between the next fire-burning season. By addressing your chimney repairs in the spring, you can weigh all of your chimney repair options and consider functional or aesthetic upgrades, which you might not do if you’re planning chimney repairs under the pressure of impending fall temperatures.
So how do you know if chimney repairs should be on your home maintenance list? Obviously, if your sweep told you during your fall sweeping and inspection that repairs were imminent, you will know to schedule your repairs this spring. But if your chimney faced damage during the winter months, you might not realize that repairs are in order. For that reason, spring can be a great time for a chimney sweeping and inspection. If you have your chimney inspected now, rather than in the fall, you can spot and address needed repairs quickly.
If you choose to wait until fall for your chimney sweeping and inspection, you should be on the lookout for signs of chimney damage. Look for cracks in your chimney’s masonry, crumbling bricks or mortar and discoloration on the chimney exterior. Make sure the chimney cap remains firmly in place, the crown is free from cracks and the flashing is corrosion free and snug against the chimney base. Inside your home, rust on fireplace part, cracks in the firebox masonry, chunks of tile inside the firebox or stains on the walls or chimney around the chimney can be signs of a chimney leak or interior chimney damage.
If you are in need of chimney repairs, or if you would like to have your chimney inspected to make sure it is damage free, call Total Chimney Care to schedule an appointment today!