Surface texture above my fireplace damper
Q: Jason, The brick and mortar texture above my fireplace damper is very rough as you can see in the photo of my flue. The walls slant away in weird angles like looking up from the inside of a pyramid. Will the Chimney Balloon damper be able to seal this area ok?
I have a large rectangular metal damper. I believe you call that type of damper a “vestal” style damper. – RM
A: Hi RM, Thank you for the photo of the fireplace flue and your damper. You are correct that you do have a vestal style damper. This style is quite easy to fit with a Chimney Balloon even if there are slopping and slanting and rough texture walls in the flue above the damper.
Measure the area above the fireplace damper with a folding carpenters ruler and buy a Chimney Balloon that is at least that dimension (i.e. If you measure 37″x16″ buy a custom 39×16 Chimney Balloon. Do NOT buy a 36×15 standard since that will be too small). Take the un-inflated Chimney Balloon out of its packaging and tuck the Chimney Balloon material above the flue with the long side pointing in the length direction of the fireplace. The handle of the Chimney Balloon will stick down through the open damper door. It is OK to leave the damper door open since the Chimney Balloon will be serving as the damper when it is inflated. And quite frankly it will do a better job sealing than the old tired metal damper.
The type of texture you show if your picture is actually quite beneficial for the Chimney Balloon since it gives the Chimney Balloon membrane a nice surface texture to grab hold of when you inflate the Chimney Balloon damper in place. The Chimney Balloon material is very flexible and will seal around any mortar or texture as it inflates. Just make sure you do not attempt to move the position of the Chimney Balloon after you have it inflated in place. If you do have to adjust the position of the Chimney Balloon remove most of the air volume of the Chimney Balloon before you reposition it. – Jason