NEWS photo Terry Peters TIM HOLT of Black Velvet Chimney Sweeps Ltd. supervises the use of the company’s new expanding chimney lining bladder atop a North Van- couver home. The bizarre looking instrument is used as part of a new method for instaBing chimney and fireplace insulation. Patio doors fet the outside in THERE’S NOTHING ix: patio doors to bring the beauty of the outdoors indoors. They provide the most conve- nient way to make the outdoors a visual extension of a room. The most common patio door has one stationary panel and one operating panel.The operating panel can either slide or swing open and shut. Requirements of a well-made patio door are factory-applied weatherstripping and double glaz- ing. Weatherstripping prevents energy loss around the frame, while double glazing reduces heat loss through the glass area. Wood patio doors are available at local lumberyards, home centres and building supply stores. They come in six, eight, nine and 12- foot widths. Many have a pretective exterior cladding that virtually eliminates the need for painting. Most homeowners can install a patio door using ordinary carpen- try tools. It usually takes two days to complete the installation — the first to prepare the wall opening and the second to complete the job. A little giue can do the trick DID SOMETHING catch your walleovering, pulling apart a seam? Or did the heat and humidity in your kitchen work a sear loose in spots? Apply a little wallcovering repair adhesive’ to both sides of the break, spreading it smoothly and eveniy. Use a smail piece of card- board, a tongue depressor or a scrap of thin wood, if necessary. For heavier or excessively curled wallcoverings, let dry, propping sides apart; when adhesive turns clear, press two pieces together. BLACK VELVET Chimney Sweeps Ltd. introduced a new chimney lining system to the Lower Mainland last year and the long black tubes have been poking out of the tops of chimneys in a few North Shore neighborhoods. The tubular eyecatchers are in- flatable rubber formers, carefully spaced throughout the length of the chimney flue and then inflated to a predetermined diameter. Werner and Angelica Weiss of 335 East 8th Street wanted to rein- force and insulate the furnace and fireplace chimneys in their home which is over 50 years old. Built wei! before chimney linings became part of the building code standard, the chimneys were badly deteriorated inside and out. Black Velvet first rebuilt the two chimneys from the roofline up and then proceeded with the solid flue lining system. Once the tubes were inflated in place, a patented, lightweight and highly insulative cement mixture was pumped into the chimneys around the formers. Vibrating the former helps the solid flue cement to flow into ail the joints, cracks, holes and other weak areas to solidify the chimney’s interior into one solid, seamless flue. The next day, the formers were deflated and removed, leaving properly sized, round flies. Most chimneys are not only too GEORGE STEWART DUNCAN Contributing Writer large for modern heating ap- pliances, but they are rectangular instead of round. By properly sizing, insulating and rounding out the flue, draw is increased considerably while water condensation and creosote buildup is reduced. Because it lacks seams and joints, has tremeidous therme! expansion capabilities and high resistance to creosote and acids, the solid flue is considered the best liner available. The original solid flue method hails from Engiand where there are more chimneys per captia than anywhere else in the world. A forerunner of the current method was described in detail in an 1880 American’ book called Handy Arts for Immigrants. It outlined the same basic method using a smooth, tapered log inverted in a chimney and mor- tar poured around it. It was backbreaking work. Modern solid flue cement con- tains perlite, with such diverse uses as keeping plant soil light and airy, and insulating the nose cones of space capsules against the friction of the Earth’s atmosphere. Solid flue dries to amazing hardness, yet is so lightweight it feels like wood or plastic. The Weiss’s will soon be replac- ing their oil furnace with a gas furnace, but both fuels couse dan- gerous deterioration to masonry chimneys. The ‘Weiss’s wanted a chimney liner that would be as permanent as the other renovations they are going to do on their recently pur- chased home. Company president Dennis Fryers of North Vancouver points out that while Black Velvet Chimney Sweeps also installs stainless ste2! Jiners, the solid flue system withstands chimney fires and ccrrosive acids far better than steel can. It also rules out the use of ‘screws which are often needed to secure sections of pipe: the screws are not stainless steel and wil] not withstand the explosive force of crimney fires, nor the tremendous heat. Chimney fires can easily exceed 2,000° F. Fryers notes that solid flue ex- ceeds the U.L.C. S629M ‘Canadian Code and comes with a 10-year warranty, and, according to BOCA (the Building Officials and Code Administrators) has a life expectancy of 60 years. PAN a e CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS « % * WREATHS DECORATIONS & CENTREPIECES 127 W. Esplanade, N.V. 1 block north of Lonsdale Quay 984-9333