If you have a TV antenna on your roof, there’s a better than average chance it’s secured by a chimney mount. But is this common solution actually hurting your home? You’ll just have to read on to find out.
What is a chimney mount?
A chimney mount is a simple strap that goes around your chimney. It connects to a pair of metal brackets that then connect to a pole. That pole holds your antenna.
The benefits of the chimney mount/chimney strap system are pretty simple. You don’t have to drill holes and in theory you’re strapping your antenna to the strongest part of your home. I mean, whenever you see images of natural disasters you see homes completely destroyed except for the chimney. So strapping an antenna to the chimney seems like a pretty sound bet.
Not only that, the chimney is usually the tallest point in the house and that’s just where you want to put the antenna. A chimney mount also makes aiming easy because the mast the antenna’s connected to is set off from the chimney.
When I talked about this before…
I addressed this before in an article from 2019. At that time there were some ham radio operators out there saying never mount anything to your chimney. If you’ve ever seen a ham radio antenna you might understand why. Some of them are about 20 feet wide and they have to be heavy. But I didn’t buy their argument back then and I don’t buy it now. But, it spurred me on to talk to some contractors about it. Because, honestly, I’m not a construction guy. I’m a tech guy. So I’m going to listen to their opinions.
What the contractors say
The answer here is pretty cut and dried. Sure a chimney mount can damage a chimney. But, the chimney has to be weak to begin with. A strong chimney isn’t going to be hurt by a chimney mount no matter what you do. And if your chimney is so weak that a metal strap causes it to fail, then pretty much it’s already failed. A chimney that shows that level of weakness should be replaced.
I even had one contractor tell me that a chimney mount was a good idea because it would show damage to the chimney that wouldn’t otherwise be seen. I’m not sure I’d go all the way to that point but I can see what he’s saying.
Get the mounting solution you need from Solid Signal
Solid Signal has all the mounting solutions you need for practically any antenna. Everything from small J-mounts to gigantic towers can be found among the 40,000 parts in our inventory. Looking for a custom solution? Call us at 888-233-7563 and our technicians will recommend the right solution for you. Our Novi, Michigan call center is staffed with folks with decades of experience and they’re ready to help you during East Coast business hours. What are you waiting for?
