Camera Inspection
When does a camera inspection apply :
Although our summary visual inspections allow us to identify a vast majority of the gaps in your chimneys, it is possible that in some cases, it is insufficient.
Indeed, when a chimney has a slight curve, it becomes very difficult to inspect the state of the chimney and to detect anomalies. It is therefore in this type of situation that a camera inspection applies.
The inspection of your chimney is not to be neglected, as your chimney is subject to thermal shock, deformation and some cracks may occur.
You have a request from your insurance company?
It is important not to confuse insurance requests about fire separation and camera inspections.
Camera inspections are done from the fireplace to check the inside of the duct in cavities or partitions that are not visually accessible.
For insurance claims for those who live in a condo, please refer to the information related to the integrity of the fire separation per floor in chimney pits for multiplexes.
The fire separation of each unit in a multiplex is crucial to protect the property of others. If a fire is triggered in a unit, each unit must have a minimum fire resistance of at least 30 minutes. In the event of a fire, this allows the fire department to move and to control the fire. If there are gaps in the separations, the fire will spread faster than the standards allow. This type of situation occurred in the past and it ravaged a 24 units multiplex.
Since 2009, this standard has been taken more and more seriously by condominium insurances.
Most of the time, they require a modification or a conformity certificate on the integrity of the chimney and fireplaces installation.
The first step is to determine the type of fire separation between fireplaces and chimneys.
This step includes at least one opening of the partition near a fireplace in order to visually access the chimney shaft. If the chimney stack does not meet the standards, it must be modified or completely uninstalled to restore the fire separation just like the equivalent of the rest of the unit.
If the wells are modified to keep the chimneys, an engineer must primarily create a full report and then support the changes. If the fireplace and chimney extraction is chosen, the engineering service becomes optional, which greatly reduces the costs.