As you can see in the inspection pictures below, the chimney is severely cracked, most likely because of settling and old age. While that’s one of our specialties, we meticulously inspect the fireplace and chimney before performing any repairs. Here’s a real-world example of stucco damage on a Kansas City, Missouri home.Ī customer called us about installing a fireplace insert. And the worst part is, damages easily go unnoticed until it’s too late. But, say you live in the pacific northwest, in that case, improperly installed or cracked stucco is like a ticking time bomb for your home. The contractor didn’t install it properly.Īn adequately installed stucco-covered home in a dry climate will likely thrive for many decades.The exterior of older homes tends to crack due to settling and expanding.While most water runs off it, it’s still a porous material that absorbs water.Moisture passes through stucco due to these reasons: If you have a fireplace restoration project in Cornwall that you would like to discuss, please Contact Us.In general, the main problem with stucco chimneys is that once moisture seeps in, significant issues such as discoloration, mold growth, and, most notably, wood and wall rot are inevitable. Often where we have uncovered an original fireplace, our Clients have requested that we leave it uncovered and restore it using traditional breathable lime applications. One cause of damp is that any moisture that builds up within the flue would drip down into the fireplace void and have no other ways of dissipating other than through the walls. When the fireplace was sealed often no works were undertaken to the existing chimney, meaning the flue had no natural vent. We, Leslie Cornell Building Restoration Ltd, have been engaged in many works to limit damp problems in historic buildings in Cornwall, and on many occasions the damp problems have arisen due to an original fireplace being sealed up as they were no longer needed for heating and cooking. Before stoves and ranges were in common use, cooking. In later years, and as supply became more readily available, fireplaces were also constructed using bricks. If there is one feature that defines the Cornish cottage, it has to be the inglenook fireplace. The oven itself did not have an internal chimney, so the smoke produced escaped through the oven door into the fireplace and out through the chimney. To use a Clome oven you had to enter the fireplace and build a fire within the oven, traditionally done using gorse or blackthorn. These ovens were built into the side of the chimney breast. Natural fieldstone of varying sizes brings the outdoors in at this snug Door County, Wisconsin residence. In Cornwall, many fireplaces had Clome ovens installed in them. You can use stone to refresh your fireplace, as it’s one of the best fireplace surround materials especially if you’re going for a contemporary design. The inglenook fireplace was where all of the cooking would take place and was constructed using stone columns and a timber or granite lintel, finished with a clay or lime application. The surround being the mantlepiece and side supports, and the insert being the area in which the fire burned.įireplaces in Cornwall were traditionally built using Cob or Stone, which are better known as inglenook fireplaces. They consisted of 2 parts, the surround and the insert. With the development of chimneys came the conversion of firepits into fireplaces that could be situated in multiple rooms as they could be situated against walls, negating the need to take up space in the middle of the room.īy the 1800’s the design of the fireplace evolved and became a more common feature within rooms of a property. This made it possible to more reliably vent smoke outside. Many developments and alterations were made to the firepit’s ventilation system through the years, and during the 11 th to 12 th Century chimneys were invented. In later years firepits were developed by building them in the middle of the room on raised hearths with the smoke being vented through an opening in the roof, which worked well until it rained. Historically, fireplaces were used for heating a dwelling, heating water for domestic purposes and cooking.įireplaces started back in ancient times as firepits that were built into the ground, but due to the lack of ventilation, they emitted toxic and irritating smoke inside the dwellings.
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