There s a few ways to seal a chimney.
Permanently close chimney.
Here are the reasons driving that suggestion.
Chimney balloons and chimney dampers work well but you may want to seal your chimney for good.
Should the chimney have debris or animals in it it might lead to a horrid stench in your home as they decompose.
When it s time to use the chimney again all you have to do is deflate the plug and pull it out.
In either case unknown to you the metal chimney will slowly rust and the masonry chimney will slowly decay.
It only takes a few hours and 10 bucks.
Your chimney has a flue that exhausts air to keep a healthy circulation in your home.
How to permanently block a chimney.
Always have the fireplace cleaned prior to closing it off for any reason.
Air sealing a chimney can save you over 300 a year on your energy bills.
The fireplace flue can be a major source of energy loss.
Watch this video to learn how to seal a chimney.
You can also seal the edges with foam weatherstripping tape too.
If you want to permanently block a chimney the extreme solution would be to brick up the front of the fireplace or chimney breach tear down the chimney top and reroof over that.
Cooled or heated air from inside your home can escape through the chimney causing your hvac system to work.
How to close an unused chimney.
However if you want to permanently close up your chimney cutting out a foam insulation plug and placing it in the bottom of the chimney and caulking around it is the best method.
As you tear down your chimney and fireplace put any broken bricks or scraps in the dumpster so it can be taken off your property when you re finished.
There was a lot of this done to old houses probably in the era when they introduced central heat but i never hear of it anymore.
Carefully consider the decision to permanently close or block off a fireplace it will most likely devalue your property.
When the dumpster arrives ask the company to drop it as close to your fireplace as you re able or else you ll have to transport the debris further.