Chimney and Fireplace Work in Fairfield, Utah

Two facts about this place drive nearly every job we do in it. There is nothing upwind to slow the air down, and most properties are not on a gas main. Almost everything else follows from those two.

The wind gets a vote on your fire

A chimney works by holding a column of warm gas that is lighter than the air outside it. Steady pressure across the top of that column helps. Gusting, swirling pressure fights it, and on an exposed site the wind can briefly push down the flue faster than the fire can push up. What you notice indoors is a puff of smoke into the room, usually at the worst moment. The cure is rarely the appliance. It is normally termination height, a cap chosen for wind rather than for looks, and sometimes a stabilizing top that lets crosswind pull instead of push.

Wind does slower damage too. Air off open ground carries grit, and years of it scours mortar joints and rounds off a crown until water starts finding its way into the masonry. Freeze-thaw finishes what the grit started. Out here we start at the very top of the stack and work down, because that is normally where the damage has taken hold and where a budget does the most good.

Two ages of building and not much in between

The oldest part of town has structures going back to the earliest years of settlement, and anything of that vintage that still has a working flue deserves a camera in it before another winter. Then there are the newer homes scattered across acreage lots, most of them built with framed chases and modern appliances. There is not a great deal of housing stock in between, so we arrive prepared for either.

Fuel is the other thing we check before we touch anything. An appliance built for natural gas and run on propane is set up wrong at the burner, and that is a fault we would much rather find on an inspection than have you discover on a cold night. We confirm the fuel, the orifice and the regulation before we sign off on a gas hearth here.