A mason offered to repoint our old chimney with standard cement mortar. Is that a problem?

On older, softer brick, it can be. Mortar harder than the brick forces the brick to take the movement, and the face spalls off. The National Park Service guidance on repointing historic masonry recommends matching the original mortar in strength and composition. Ask what mix is proposed and why before the work starts.

Our old Claremont flue turns out to be unlined. What are the options?

Three, broadly. A new liner, usually stainless steel or a cast-in-place lining, sized for how the fireplace will be used, makes the flue fit for fires again. If the plan is a gas insert or stove instead, that appliance needs a liner sized for it in any case. Or the fireplace is retired and the flue capped. Until one of those is done, do not burn wood in it, and ask the City of Claremont whether relining needs a permit.

Two brick chimneys with round metal caps and mesh screens fitted over clay flue pots

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Chimney & Fireplace Services in Claremont

Local information for Claremont, CA — what the climate and the housing stock here do to a chimney, and the services that deal with it.

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Claremont, CA

Chimney service in Claremont

On an older Claremont chimney, the mortar and the liner are the two things worth establishing before anything else. Where masonry dates from the early part of the last century, the joints were probably laid soft on purpose, and the flue may be lined with clay tile or not lined at all.

What Claremont does to a chimney

Claremont's inland position means little marine moderation: hot summers and cold winter nights. Where a fireplace is lit through those nights, the swing moves the masonry further, and on an older chimney the movement is meant to be taken up by the mortar joints rather than the brick. That is why a repair in the wrong mortar does damage. The National Park Service's guidance on repointing historic masonry sets out the principle: new mortar should be no harder than the original or the brick around it. A cement-rich mix on a soft old wall looks tidy for a few seasons and then starts to take the brick face off.

Claremont homes and what it means for the chimney

Where a Claremont house dates from before the Second World War, the chimney may have a clay tile liner, a parged masonry flue with no separate liner, or a liner added later. Each points to a different job, and none can be read from the outside. Where the house is from later suburban growth, a factory-built fireplace is more likely, and the mortar advice above does not apply to it.

Claremont sits in the Pomona Valley, where the dominant chimney risk is thermal cycling, long burn season.

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Common questions

Claremont questions

Sometimes by looking up from the firebox with a flashlight, with the damper open: clay tile shows as square or rectangular sections with joints between them, while an unlined flue shows brick and mortar. Often the view is blocked by the smoke shelf, and the answer needs someone at the top of the stack or a camera. Knowing matters, because an unlined or badly cracked flue is a reason not to burn until it is dealt with.

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