At Wooden Sun, we offer a wide variety of hearth, chimney, and patio repair services. Here’s a brief, centralized overview of the services we offer, and the appliances we can repair: Chimney Repair This is a broad category, and covers everything from repairing and weatherproofing your chimney crown, to installing single- or multi-flue/full-coverage caps, to…
We’ve posted information about chimney crown repair, chimney swifts, and flue repair in previous entries, but what about the outside of your chimney? The brick or stone forming the surface of your chimney is subject to wear and tear over time, which shows up in a variety of ways: The most common external chimney problem…
In accordance with CSIA (Chimney Safety Institute of America) standards, Wooden Sun highly recommends a Level II (video scan) Sweep & Inspection for all new customers and for customers who are selling their home, have had a chimney fire or if the certified chimney sweep recommends this service. We sometimes have customers ask us why…
It’s nesting season, so that means chimney swifts are back! Chimney swifts often return to the same nesting site every year, so if you had them last year, you’ve probably got them again, cheeping away from inside your chimney. Swift nests are small, and don’t do any damage to the masonry inside your chimney; however,…
As we discuss on our chimney repair page, an unlined chimney can be very dangerous. Houses built to code since the 1950s have terra cotta tiles or other flue liners, but these degrade over time, or suffer damage from earthquakes, chimney fires, or other extreme conditions. Even minor cracks in flue tiles can allow sparks,…
Every fireplace season, we get calls from homeowners reporting that they can’t get their wood fireplace burning right, or that smoke spills back out into their house when the fire is going. So let’s take a look at what goes into your fireplace system, and what might be interfering with it: Draft is the force…
I can’t believe it’s August already! We’ll be having Labor Day cookouts soon, and then, before you know it, it’ll be fireplace season. Winter happens every year, but it somehow always manages to sneak up on most of us. With that in mind, here’s a brief “fireplace checklist” to help you make sure you’re ready…
Chimneys degrade from the top down, as the crown at the top of the chimney is gradually eroded by the weather. As the crown is subjected to rain, sun, and the freeze/thaw process, it gradually begins to erode, forming cracks on the surface. This is particularly true for us here in central Virginia; with warm…
Hearth and chimney fires are a serious matter, and can cause hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in property damage. In the last three years, approximately 72,500 chimney fires occurred in the United States, causing about $92 million in property damage and resulting in 30 deaths. In November of 2013, a chimney fire damaged a home…