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Chimney Inspection Checklist - Most Frequently Found Chimney Defects InspectAPedia®  -     Checklist of most common residential chimney defects

This article provides a checklist of the most common chimney defects found during a home inspection. We include links to two additional detailed chimney inspection checklists for outdoors and indoors.

This website provides detailed suggestions describing how to perform a thorough visual inspection of chimneys for safety and other defects. Chimney inspection methods and chimney repair methods are also discussed. As with most inspection and safety topics, this material may be incomplete. For additional chimney inspection detailed checklists, see Chimney Inspection Checklist - Outdoors and
Chimney Inspection Checklist - Indoors.

© Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

Chimney Inspection Checklist

This chimney inspection checklist is a companion to our detailed photo guide to chimney inspections found at CHIMNEY INSPECTION GUIDE. No checklist is ever a complete guide to building inspection or diagnosis since no checklist can contain every possible hazard or every clue that suggests a problem. Therefore do not rely on this or any checklist to assure that your inspection of a chimney is complete. Instead, use this list to suggest additional topics that you otherwise may have omitted from your inspection. Contact Us by email to suggest changes, corrections, or additions to this material.

Most Frequent Chimney Defects

• Chimney cap and crown defects: missing chimney cap, damaged chimney crown or top seal, leaks into the chimney leading to rust damage on metal flues or frost and water damage to masonry flues, leading to an unsafe chimney.
• Chimney thimble ports abandoned or hidden, covered-over by drywall, wallpaper, or a simple metal "pie-plate" enclosure - a fire and flue gas leakage hazard.
• Creosote or heavy soot in chimneys: a possible chimney fire hazard, especially at wood-burning fireplaces or woodstove flues
• Damaged, blocked, or unsafe chimney flues: a damaged chimney flue risks leaking dangerous combustion gases into the building or risks sparks which could start a building fire. Movement and cracks in a masonry chimney, rusted metal flues, unlined single-brick wythe flues, water leaks through chimneys, frost damaged chimney clay flue tiles, missing or open chimney cleanouts, dead-end flues, are examples.
  
  Look for conditions likely to rust a metal flue; look for conditions likely to cause cracking, breaking, or spalling of clay flue liners. Look for improperly constructed clay-tile lined masonry chimneys leaving concrete between joints that prevents thorough chimney clearing, or causing leaks and frost damage to the chimney flue or chimney structure.
• Dead end flues - a chimney that is entered by a flue vent from a heating appliance, woodstove, or similar device right into the very bottom of the chimney flue. Common in older homes, such flues are easily blocked by falling debris - an unsafe condition.
• Fireplace inserts for wood or coal installed into an existing masonry flue without chimney inspection and if needed, re-lining.
• Missing chimney cleanout doors, open cleanout doors: a fire hazard as well as a cause of improper, unsafe heating appliance operation
• Movement in chimneys, especially masonry chimneys: a dangerous condition, movement can cause hidden cracks and breaks that make a chimney unsafe, risking flue gas leakage into the interior or causing a building fire.
• Orphaned gas-fired water heaters not venting into any chimney, or a gas-fired water heater venting alone into a large masonry flue. The water heater may never develop sufficient heat in the old masonry flue to establish a working draft - flue gases spill backwards into the building, an unsafe condition.
• Rusted or damaged chimney or fireplace components: rusted, damaged, inoperative or missing fireplace dampers. Examples include a damper that has rusted through, a metal damper enclosure in the chimney throat rusted through, a metal fireplace insert rusted out at the chimney base.
• Unlined chimney flues in single-brick wythe chimneys of older homes - a fire and flue gas leakage hazard
• Un-sealed flue-vent connectors at chimney thimbles: metal flues not sealed in the thimble, missing thimble, risking flue gas leaks or sparks; common at woodstove and heating system metal flue connections into a masonry chimney.
• Unsafe fire clearances between metal flues or other types of chimneys and nearby combustibles.

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• Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.

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CHIMNEY INSPECTION DIAGNOSIS REPAIR
CHIMNEY INSPECTION & REPAIR GUIDE
Abandoned Chimneys
Backdrafting Appliances
Chimneys Cleaning Advice, Procedures
Chimney Cleanout Doors
Chimney Crack & Collapse Risks, Repairs
Chimney Crack Detection & Diagnosis
Chimney Draft & Performance
Chimney Height & Clearance
Chimney Inspection Checklist
Most Frequent Chimney Defects
Chimney Inspection Checklist - Outdoors
Chimney Inspection Checklist - Indoors
Responsibility of an ASHI Home Inspectors
Chimney Inspection: Flue Interiors
Chimney Inspection Indoor Procedures
  Attic Chimney Inspection
  Chimney Inspection Outdoors From Ground
  Chimney Inspection Outdoors at Rooftop
  Chimney Cap & Crown Inspection
Chimney Leaning, Separation, Movement
Chimney Repair Methods
Chimney Types & Materials
Definitions of Chimney Types & Parts
ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS
Fire Clearances for Masonry Chimneys
Fire Clearances for Metal Chimneys
Fire Clearances, Single-Wall Metal Flues
Fireplace Damage & Unsafe Hearths - Settlement
Flue Sizing of Chimneys
Flue Vent Connectors - Boilers, Furnaces
HEATING INSPECTIONS
Metal Chimneys & Flues
Moisture Problems Damage Chimneys
Shared Chimney & Shared Flue Hazards
Transite Pipe Chimneys & Flues
Wood Burning Heaters Fireplaces Stoves

• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
• Thanks to Luke Barnes for suggesting that we add text regarding the hazards of shared chimney flues. USMA - Sept. 2008.
• Arlene Puentes, an ASHI member and a licensed home inspector in Kingston, NY, and has served on ASHI national committees as well as HVASHI Chapter President. Ms. Puentes can be contacted at ap@octoberhome.com
• Roger Hankey is principal of Hankey and Brown home inspectors, Eden Prairie, MN, technical review by Roger Hankey, prior chairman, Standards Committee, American Society of Home Inspectors - ASHI. 952 829-0044 - hankeyandbrown.com
• Chimney Building Codes and Chimney, Flue, and Appliance Venting Standards
  • NFPA #211-3.1 1988 - Specific to chimneys, fireplaces, vents and solid fuel burning appliances.
  • NFPA # 54-7.1 1992 - Specific to venting of equipment with fan-assisted combustion systems.
  • GAMA - Gas Appliance Manufacturers' Association has prepared venting tables for Category I draft hood equipped central furnaces as well as fan-assisted combustion system central furnaces.
  • National Fuel Gas Code, an American National Standard, 4th ed. 1988 (newer edition is available) Secretariats, American Gas Association (AGA), 1515 Wilson Blvd., Arlington VA22209, and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Batterymarch Park, Quincy MA 02269. ANSI Z223.1-1988 - NFPA 54-1988. WARNING: be sure to check clearances and other safety guidelines in the latest edition of these standards.
  • Fire Inspector Guidebook, A Correlation of Fire Safety Requirements Contained in the 1987 BOCA National Codes, (newer edition available), Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc. (BOCA), Country Club HIlls, IL 60478 312-799-2300 4th ed. Note: this document is reissued every four years. Be sure to obtain the latest edition.
  • Uniform Mechanical Code - UMC 1991, Sec 913 (a.) Masonry Chimneys, refers to Chapters 23, 29, and 37 of the Building Code.
  • New York 1984 Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, Article 10, Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Requirements
  • New York 1979 Uniform Fire Prevention & Building Code, The "requirement" for 8" of solid masonry OR for use of a flue liner was listed in the One and Two Family Dwelling Code for New York, in 1979, in Chapter 9, Chimneys and Fireplaces, New York 1979 Building and Fire Prevention Code:
• "Top Ten Chimney (and related) Problems Encountered by One Chimney Sweep," Hudson Valley ASHI education seminar, 3 January 2000, contributed by Bob Hansen, ASHI
• Chimney Inspection Checklist, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, Ontario
• "Rooftop View Turns to Darkness," Martine Costello, Josh Kovner, New Haven Register, 12 May 1992 p. 11: Catherine Murphy was sunning on a building roof when a chimney collapsed; she fell into and was trapped inside the chimney until rescued by emergency workers.
• "Chimneys and Vents," Mark J. Reinmiller, P.E., ASHI Technical Journal, Vol. 1 No. 2 July 1991 p. 34-38.
• "Chimney Inspection Procedures & Codes," Donald V. Cohen was to be published in the first volume of the 1994 ASHI Technical Journal by D. Friedman, then editor/publisher of that publication. The production of the ASHI Technical Journal and future editions was cancelled by ASHI President Patrick Porzio. Some of the content of Mr. Cohen's original submission has been included in this more complete chimney inspection article: InspectAPedia.com/chimneys/Chimney_Inspection.htm. Copies of earlier editions of the ASHI Technical Journal are available from ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
• Natural Gas Weekly Update: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/ngw/ngupdate.asp Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government
• US Energy Administration: Electrical Energy Costs http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelelectric.html

Books & Articles on Chimney Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Books, Complete List of Fireplace & Chimney Design, Inspection, Repair Books at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
• Ceramic Roofware, Hans Van Lemmen, Shire Library, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0747805694 - Brick chimneys, chimney-pots and roof and ridge tiles have been a feature of the roofs of a wide range of buildings since the late Middle Ages. In the first instance this ceramic roofware was functional - to make the roof weatherproof and to provide an outlet for smoke - but it could also be very decorative.
  The practical and ornamental aspects of ceramic roofware can still be seen throughout Britain, particularly on buildings of the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Not only do these often have ornate chimneys and roof tiles but they may also feature ornamental sculptures or highly decorative gable ends. This book charts the history of ceramic roofware from the Middle Ages to the present day, highlighting both practical and decorative applications, and giving information about manufacturers and on the styles and techniques of production and decoration.
  Hans van Lemmen is an established author on the history of tiles and has lectured on the subject in Britain and elsewhere. He is founder member and presently publications editor of the British Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society. Available at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
• Chimney Inspection Checklist, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, Ontario
• Chimney & Stack Inspection Guidelines, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2003 - These guidelines address the inspection of chimneys and stacks. Each guideline assists owners in determining what level of inspection is appropriate to a particular chimney and provides common criteria so that all parties involved have a clear understanding of the scope of the inspection and the end product required. Each chimney or stack is a unique structure, subject to both aggressive operating and natural environments, and degradation over time. Such degradation may be managed via a prudent inspection program followed by maintenance work on any equipment or structure determined to be in need of attention. Sample inspection report specifications, sample field inspection data forms, and an example of a developed plan of a concrete chimney are included in the guidelines. This book provides a valuable guidance tool for chimney and stack inspections and also offers a set of references for these particular inspections.
• Fireplaces, a Practical Design Guide, Jane Gitlin
• Fireplaces, Friend or Foe, Robert D. Mayo
• NFPA 211 - Standards for Chimneys & Fireplaces, NFPA
• Principles of Home Inspection: Chimneys & Wood Heating (Principles of Home Inspection), Carson Dunlop
• Woodstove & Fireplace Maintenance & Safety, L. L. Helwig

More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• NFPA 211 - 3-1.10 - Relining guide for chimneys
• NFPA 211 - 3-2 - Construction of Masonry Chimneys
• NFPA 211 - 3-3 - Termination Height for chimneys
• NFPA 211 - 3-4 - Clearance from Combustible Material
• NFPA 54 - 7-1 - Venting of Equipment into chimneys
• Brick Institute of America - Flashing Chimneys
  Brick Institute of America - Proper Chimney Crowns
  Brick Institute of America - Moisture Resistance of Brick
• American Gas Association - New Vent Sizing Tables
• Chimney Safety Institute of America - Chimney Fires: Causes, Effects, Evaluation
• National Chimney Sweep Guild - Yellow Pages of Suppliers

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