Our Company Blog

New Year, New Flue With Heatshield

by Mike O'Mara | Jan 15, 2019 | Chimney Liners

The start of a new year encourages many folks to think of goals and resolutions for bettering their lives. If you feel inspired to improve your household and get your appliances in tip-top shape for the new year ahead, then why not start with your chimney flue? The holidays are over, but there’s bound to be some chilly nights ahead, so stay on top of it by having your flue relined as soon as possible.

What To Expect From Our Crew

a beautiful masonry chimney If you’ve made the decision of repairing your chimney liner, then our team here to help. We use the best product on the market called HeatShield to guarantee the best results possible for your chimney flue. HeatShield works by sealing your liner and smoothing the surface, so you don’t need to worry about cracks, holes, or damage messing things up and putting you and your loved ones in a dangerous situation.

HeatShield has a Joint Repair system and a Resurfacing System, so whatever problems you’re facing – big or small – there’s a product that will work for your chimney. They also provide a Sleeve Relining System that works well in systems that are more severely damaged or missing a liner altogether.

No matter which type of HeatShield product you need, our crew is more than qualified to apply them in a timely and efficient manner to get your fireplace back to working condition. Not sure which is best for you? We can start off by thoroughly inspecting your flue, pinpointing potential issues you may be facing, and help you figure out which HeatsShield is best for you. Once we’ve completed our assessment, we’ll let you know what exactly need to be done to get your fireplace back to safety and ready for use!

More About HeatShield

When you look at the technology behind HeatShield products, you will realize the wonder of it. Developers have worked hard to guarantee these products provide homeowners with a safer and more effective solution for your chimney. HeatShield has been put to use for two decades now, and many trusted chimney have been using it. Homeowners and sweeps continue to trust this product today. At Weststar Chimney Sweeps, we can’t wait to show you what HeatShield can do for your chimney and continue to use it for years to come!

Why Wait?

Your chimney liner does a lot to protect your home from the high temperatures of your fireplace. Without a liner in place, your risk of house fires and carbon monoxide exposure increase dramatically. It also affects the overall inefficiency of your system as well. If your liner is missing or in bad shape, then it’s time to call in the professionals. Contact our expert sweeps right now, we’re ready to provide you with the best care!

Why Repairing Your Flue Liner Is Important

by Mike O'Mara | Apr 13, 2018 | Chimney Liners

The chimney liner plays a major role in keeping your chimney functioning right. It protects your home in more ways than one, and using a chimney without a liner in place puts you at some serious risks! If you’re ready to learn more, read below. We’ll explain why liners are so important, then let you know what we can do to repair and restore yours.

Flue Liners Serve A Big Purpose

The liner in your chimney does a lot to ensure safer and proper functioning, so it’s important to keep it protected throughout the years. First things first, it keeps heat from traveling to other parts of your home and starting a house fire. This process occurs faster than you may think (just a few hours), and it puts you and your loved ones at serious risk!

Chimney liners also help protect your mortar from melting and deteriorating. If cracks and crumbling start to occur, gases and harmful fumes can easily enter your home and trigger sickness. Some of these gases, like carbon monoxide, can even be fatal and are extremely hard to detect! Play it safe – let us inspect your liner today!

Lastly, a chimney flue liner enhances efficiency of your appliance, but only when sized correctly. When measurements are out of whack, creosote and other debris will accumulate at a faster pace, causing damage and increasing your risk of chimney fires. In order to ensure proper air flow, your liner needs to be fitted just right, and our CSIA certified crew will make sure that happens!

Don’t Put It Off

With nicer temperatures and springtime sunshine here, now may be your best time to call us in for liner repair work! As you can imagine, we get pretty busy when fall comes back around, performing repairs, inspections, sweepings, and more all throughout our service area. While we do everything we can to accommodate each of our customers’ needs, sometimes finding that perfect appointment time is hard to do!

We would hate to see you forced to put off fireplace use due to damages and necessary maintenance work. Call us in now, while things are slower, so we can set you up right! Once temperatures drop, you’ll be ready to light up that first fire, with no problems in sight. You and your loved ones deserve that! Give us a call now!

HeatShield Is a Great Option for Relining Your Chimney

by Mike O'Mara | Mar 22, 2015 | Chimney Maintenance

Do you live in an older home with a masonry chimney? If so, it probably has a clay tile flue liner. Clay tiles have been used to line chimney flues since the beginning of the 20th century, and there are excellent reasons why. These tiles can withstand extremely high temperatures, and they hold up well against the corrosive byproducts of combustion that pass through the flue on their way out of the chimney. Once installed, clay liners will stay in good shape up to 50 years. However, when the clay tiles become cracked and chipped over time, it can be costly to repair them or to replace the liner as it is a very difficult and time-consuming task. When the HeatShield Chimney Repair and Resurfacing System was developed around 20 years ago in Europe, repairing and relining a clay tile liner became so much easier and less costly. At Weststar Chimney Sweeps, our technicians are experienced with using HeatShield, and our customers who have had their clay flue liners repaired or replaced with this product have all been very satisfied. We would like to tell you more about HeatShield and what it can do for your clay tile-lined chimney.

What exactly is HeatShield?

Made from a specially formulated “Cerfractory” sealant material, HeatShield can restore the integrity of your chimney’s flue to vent out toxic gases from your home. Eliminating the dangers in your flue caused by cracks, gaps, and spalling, HeatShield will make your chimney as safe and as efficient as it originally was when first built. Depending on the condition of your clay tile liner, the Joint Repair system or the Resurfacing System will be used.

What does the Joint Repair system do?

If our chimney inspectors at Weststar Chimney Sweeps only find mortar joints in your clay tile liner that are deficient, we will use the Joint Repair system. First we will make a custom-made foam applicator blade to fit your chimney. Once this tool has been inserted into your chimney and positioned below each gap or void, we will then add the HeatShield Cerfractory Flue Sealant mixture. Each void and gap will be filled, and when we pull out the foam applicator blade, it will smooth the filled gaps and voids as it comes out of your chimney. Then we scan the repair with a special video camera to be sure the repairs have been done correctly.

What does the Resurfacing System do?

If your chimney liner has a flue that is spalled, but is also structurally still sound, we will use the Resurfacing System. We will pull a custom-fit foam applicator from the bottom of the flue up through top by way of a wench attached to the top of the chimney. We then prime and clean your old liner with a “tie coat” material, which is applied to the flue walls by pulling the plug upwards with the winch. After this coat dries, we then apply the HeatShield mixture with the foam plug in the same way we applied the primer. This method is called “slip casting” or “slip cast extrusion.” After this is applied, we will look at the scanned video to be sure your entire chimney is sealed and smoke-tight.

Have more questions about HeatShield? Contact Weststar Chimney Sweeps to talk to our staff to see if HeatShield is right for your clay tile chimney liner.

All About Carbon Monoxide

by Mike O'Mara | Apr 30, 2014 | Chimney Maintenance

You won’t know it’s there until it strikes! Avoid CO poisoning through proper chimney care and maintenance.

When you are using your fireplace, you probably give little thought to the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning; however, the Chimney Safety Institute of America states that every year over 200 people in the United States die from carbon monoxide poisoning due to the toxic gas entering their homes due to venting problems or leaks in their heating or chimney system. Additionally, 10,000 cases of illnesses due to carbon monoxide poisoning are reported every year. Fortunately, proper maintenance of your chimney, including an annual chimney sweep and inspection from a CSIA-certified chimney sweeping company like Weststar Chimney Sweeps, can prevent any possible carbon monoxide poisoning incidents from occurring in your home.

What does carbon monoxide do to you?

Quite simply, too much carbon monoxide in your bloodstream will kill you, and low levels of exposure to carbon monoxide over a period of time can cause many health problems. Unfortunately, when carbon monoxide is in the air, the protein hemoglobin in your blood would rather latch on to carbon monoxide and ignore life-giving oxygen. Because of this, your body will replace oxygen with carbon monoxide, and this causes greater or lesser levels of your cells suffocating, depending on the duration and intensity of the exposure to carbon monoxide. Low-level exposure to carbon dioxide includes serious side effects like permanent organ and brain damage. The elderly, infants, and people with breathing issues are in more danger to carbon monoxide exposure as their immune systems are compromised. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are similar to the common cold and flu, so it can take some time to diagnose the true problem. If you continue to suffer from headaches, fatigue, or even depression, ask your doctor to check your blood levels of carbon monoxide.

How does carbon monoxide form in my chimney?

A by-product of combustion, carbon monoxide can be found in both gas and wood-burning fireplaces, stoves, and furnaces. If the combustion process is incomplete, more carbon dioxide is formed. Restricted air flow (closed fireplace doors and an unopened damper) is a cause of incomplete combustion as not enough oxygen is able to get in to burn the fuel completely.

How does carbon monoxide get into my house from my chimney?

Several factors lead to the toxic gas leaking into your home. A damaged or deteriorated flue liner allows carbon monoxide to seep through its cracks. Other factors that cause carbon monoxide to enter your home are debris clogs, soot build-up, and animal or birds nests obstructing the chimney flue.

How do I prevent carbon monoxide from entering my house?

The best prevention against carbon monoxide leaks is an annual chimney sweeping and inspection from a CSIA-certified company like Weststar Chimney Sweeps. We will ensure your venting system and flue liner are in good shape, and if not, we provide chimney repair services to fine-tune your chimney so that it works efficiently and safely.

If you have any more questions about the dangers of carbon monoxide, contact Weststar Chimney Sweeps, and our staff will be happy to answer them as well as schedule a chimney sweeping and inspection to ensure your home is carbon monoxide-free.