Will falling/spalling bricks puncture or pop a Chimney Balloon?

Will falling/spalling bricks puncture or pop a Chimney Balloon?

Bad Brick

Q: Jason – I have an old chimney that occasionally drops a brick off the outside of the chimney or inside of the flue. The damper of this fireplace is in terrible shape and I want to use a Chimney Balloon to seal it up, but will the Chimney Balloon stand up to falling bricks? – TR

A: Dear TR, The answer to your question is…maybe. I have seen the Chimney Balloon hold back quite a bit of falling debris before. Some masons even use a Chimney Balloon in a fireplace they are demolishing just so they don’t fill the house with dust and crumbled mortar. But I cant tell you a brick falling from 2 stories up won’t puncture it because that fully depends on the shape of the brick, the velocity it hits with, and the way you installed the Chimney Balloon. That and we really have not done any testing on the Chimney Balloon on falling bricks. But you pose a very interesting question.

I may be stating the obvious here, but if you have entire bricks spalling from your chimney and dropping both inside and out…you have a real problem. You should not be using this fireplace or chimney at all and you should have it looked at by a professional. This chimney may be on the verge of collapse and this can be a deadly situation. – Jason