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Janice, a long-time business contact, called Black Goose Chimney in October of 2016 asking for help. Her daughter-in-law’s brother Trevor had broken his neck in a swimming accident during his high school graduation weekend; he was paralyzed and in a wheel chair. She was putting together an Extreme Home Makeover and asked if we could help with the fireplace. A crew was sent for a Level II inspection and they noted numerous areas of concern. The firebox needed repointing, the damper frame was broken, the smoke chamber was not parged, the exterior brick needed repointing, the crown was cracked, and the rusty cap was missing the rain bonnet. The Extreme Home Makeover was scheduled for the middle of December. She was told that we would be glad to help, but could not do it in December, so the work was scheduled for April 3, 2017.

Calls were made to our vendor members, the word was put out to our local members, and the support poured in. Thanks to Copperfield, Estoban (Chim Scan), Lindemann, New England Chimney Supply, ICP (Vacu-Stack), Regional Chimney Supply, Saver Systems, Southeast HPBA, and Weathertite.

Jim Bostaph with Black Goose Chimney was supervising on site from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Sergey and Ian Gardner with Black Goose (Newport News), Steve Skloff and Larry Banks from Chimney Doctors (Virginia Beach), Ike Rowland from County Chimney (Yorktown), and Marko Jocic from Soko Corp. (Smithfield) all gave some hours to this worthy cause.

Repairs included repointing the firebox, parging the smoke chamber, pressure washing the chimney, repointing the exterior bricks, parging the crown, and installing a top-sealing damper cap. Everything but the crown was done by 5:00. There was a rain storm approaching so the chimney had to be covered. Nobody had a tarp in their van, but Marko said: “Hey, I have my motorcycle cover and it’s the right size.” The temporary cover worked and Sergey and Ian returned the next day to finish the crown.

An English professor once said: “When someone asks how you are doing, don’t say ‘I’m doing good’ unless you’re helping Jimmy Carter build houses for Habitat For Humanity or helping Mother Teresa minister to the needy; you are doing WELL.” Well, that day we were all doing GOOD!

 

MACA held a charity workshop on January 25, 2016. Jim Bostaph, Billy Bingman, Sergey

Gardner, and John Kerr from Black Goose Chimney; Wayne VanHoudt from Olde Town

Chimney; Ike Rowland from County Chimney; and Steve Skloff and Larry Banks from Chimney

Doctor all helped with the project. This was the week right after the blizzard, so we were

concerned about the roads and about working on the metal roof. We were lucky and the weather

cooperated nicely — it was fifty degrees and sunny.

The recipient was a family we met through the Department of Social Services. They had seven

children and lived in a house built in 1883 in Boykins, VA. We found out that day that the oldest

section of the house had been the original train station for the town. The house was literally

across the narrow street from the train tracks and the trains definitely got our attention as they

passed by.

The sole source of heat in the house was a pair of wood stoves – one insert and one free standing.

The insert had been installed with only a short connect into an unlined chimney and the stove

door was broken. The free standing stove had an improper connector and floor protection, and

the snout of the tee section had come apart inside the wall.

The tee snout was replaced, the thimble was relocated, and new connector pipe and floor

protection were installed for the free standing stove. The short connect for the insert was

removed, a positive connect liner was installed to the top of the chimney, and a new door was put

on the stove.

Most of the materials were donated by Copperfield Chimney Supply, New Buck Corp. donated a

replacement door for the Buck Stove, and Saver Systems gave us a check to help cover some of

the out-of-pocket expenses. We are very grateful to these companies and hope you will send

them some of your business in thanks for their generous contributions.

We brought in barbeque, fried chicken, and sides for lunch plus the mom cooked us some

Haitian rice (yum, yum!). There was a large amount of leftover food that we left with mom and

her family. As we were wrapping up that afternoon, she came outside, told us she felt blessed,

called us her heroes, and gave us all big hugs.

Do The Following House Pressure Problems Have You Stumped?

August 12th and 13th, 2015

-Spillage from factory-built fireplaces
-Odor problems from fireplaces
-Cross-over smoking from one fireplace to another (upstairs – downstairs fireplaces)
-Upstairs fireplace works – downstairs fireplace doesn’t
-Performance problems in one-story fireplaces in two-story houses
-Ghosting/sooting on ceiling in ranch house (living room, bedroom) – heating system in basement
-Problems with fireplaces in house after remodeling
-Cold drafts around factory-built fireplace
-Erratic smoking problem with fireplace in house located at bottom of hill
-Pressure problems in multi-family mid-rise house w/ central heating system (fireplaces smoke and stink)
-Odors when using fireplaces w/ heat exchangers
-Sooting with vented gas logs

In this two-day course, we learned how to diagnose common homeowner complaints that the competition is likely to miss. Understanding the house as a system allows you to start asking the right questions with the first homeowner call. You’ll complete the session with an expert skill set and a discount toward purchasing your own digital manometer from Copperfield.

As natural gas prices soar, many homeowners are rethinking their heating systems. During this intensive, two-day course students learn to diagnose and resolve chimney performance problems related to modern building construction in a way that’s easy for the new heating appliance owner to understand. Topics covered include solving air pressure problems, identifying the symptoms of indoor air pollutants, determining combustion air requirements for vented appliances and the use of diagnostic tools.

Chimney Physics is designed to provide a solid answer to your most common homeowners question: Why does this perfectly good chimney not work?!

CSIA offered the following CEUs for attending Chimney Physics: 3-T 3-CS 3-HS 3-CL
NFI offered the following CEUs for attending Chimney Physics: 12-T

Lunch was provided both days and there was a live auction, thanks to our generous sponsors.