Building A Chimney Chase

Framed chimney chases seem to be especially vulnerable and i ve repaired a lot of them over the years.

Building a chimney chase.

It must be high enough to protect the pipe in accordance with alpharetta building codes. Codes allow a maximum of 90 degf temperature rise above ambient inside the the chimney chase well below the combustion or pyrolysis point for plywood. To build a fire retardant chimney chase one might use fire retardant plywood and sure one could try spraying a fire retardant coating but those are not common practices. Build chase of fireplace just like any other wall structure by placing its uprights between plates and top plates to create a large box.

Chimney chase insulation kevin spellman posted in energy efficiency and durability on august 18 2017 11 27am i have read a lot of articles and forum posts about this but there is not a lot of consensus and each answer seems very case specific. A chase is a small enclosed space which is used to accommodate piping duct work or other utilities in home or building construction. Fire blocking perhaps 3 4 thick plywood or osb fire rated is intended to slow or even prevent the movement of a chimney chase fire between building floors and to prevent the increase of fire intensity and spread by the chimney effects that would occur inside the chimney chase without fires topping. A chase is usually built within a wall or ceiling and isn t visible to the eye although sometimes a chase protrudes from a wall due to structural necessity.

For example the house shown here was built just a few years before my crew and i began working on it but already the paint was peeling from the fiber cement clapboards and the corner boards had begun to rot see image 1. Renovation of a chimney that has leaked through to the roof sheeting. It must be finished properly inside and out. In addition to some structural improvements we used low maintenance pvc corner boards a.