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How do you keep flying insect such as wasps and bees out of a chimney?
Bees, wasps, and other insects can enter your home through the chimney flue just as they can
enter through an open door. Even the mesh screening of chimney caps is no deterrent for these uninvited guests. Keeping them out, however, is as simple as selecting a chimney cap with a top sealing damper.
A top sealing dampers affixes to the very top of
your chimney flue and pivots open when you are using your fireplace. But when your fireplace is not in use, it pivots closed, shutting off the top of
the flue with a tight sealing rubber gasket that keeps out the unwanted bees, wasps and other flying critters (as well as creeping and crawling critters including even the most determined
raccoons!) A handle inside your fireplace, attached by heavy duty chain to the damper on top of your flue, easily opens or closes the damper.
Lymance dampers are high quality but reasonably priced top sealing dampers.
Lymance also makes chimney caps that attach to the flue to fit over their top sealing dampers. With the Lymance damper and chimney cap combo, you have all the spark
protection of a chimney cap together with the insect protection of the tight sealing damper. The chimney cap helps keep snow off of your damper, too.
Alternatively, with a top sealing damper you can use a chimney cap that mounts to the
top, cement part of your chimney called a top-mount chimney cap, which can be used if
you have only one flue or if you have multiple flues.
Top sealing dampers are not recommended for gas fireplaces. They are also not
appropriate for air cooled flues, that is, flues with two or three concentric metal pipes.
In addition to keeping out bees and other unwanted flying insects, top sealing dampers
reduce your energy costs by up to 90% by eliminating a source of heat loss.
Sometimes bees elect to enter chimneys not through an open flue but through small
holes in deteriorating bricks, mortar or cement crown on top of the chimney.
Cracks up to 1 inch in the cement crown can be repaired with CrownSeal which applies
with a trowel, eradicating gaps through which bees can make entry. While CrownSeal is a professional grade product, any homeowner can save money by applying it herself.
Severe brick or mortar deterioration should be repaired by a mason, but if the bricks
are secure, a homeowner can repair mortar joints around chimney bricks and eliminate bee-friendly mortar holes with CrackMagic.
If bees are already in your chimney, learn how to remove bees from a chimney.
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