Chimney Caps and Frost Wedging
Minneapolis Chimneys Need Caps No Matter What…Here’s Why.
The Problem:
Is Mother Nature giving your chimney a frost wedgie? We’ve seen it hundreds of times around the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. A masonry chimney with one damaged clay flue and one pristine flue. Most people might assume that the flue that gets used frequently might fail sooner than the unused one. Or, that the one that is open to the weather is more likely to fail than one filled with concrete. Neither is true. In fact, the number one determining factor in hastening the demise of a clay flue liner is whether or not it has a cap. By ‘cap’ we mean anything that protects the top edge of the clay liner from the elements.
When water freezes it expands with incredible force. An exposed edge of clay flue liner, as seen here, is relatively vulnerable to this damaging cycle. After this process destroys your flue, it keeps working its way down into the body of your chimney. That’s when things get really expensive to fix.
The Solution:
The solution is pretty simple. Cap all clay flues. Concrete fill, as in the case with many passive, or ‘dummie’ flues will not protect your ue from our wicked freeze-thaw cycles.
Installing the typical steel chimney cap, such as the ones shown here, ranges from $125-350 per location depending on flue size and height off the ground.
