Masonry and factory-built chimney repair in Aloma

A chimney with more than one flue

Some chimneys carry two or more flues, one for the fireplace and others for a second fireplace or an appliance. Under the Florida Building Code, masonry wythes separate adjacent flue linings, built into the chimney walls, with an exception for two flues venting a single appliance.

Each flue brings its own top detail, and the masonry between flues cannot be seen from the roof, so every flue is checked from its own top. A cap over one flue with its neighbor left open still lets rain into the chimney.

Every flue gets its own findings on the estimate. That makes it clear which flue a repair belongs to, what that flue serves and whether a problem in one affects the use of the other.

• A liner standing above the crown
• Its own caulked bond break at the crown
• A cap that covers the flue it is meant to protect
• The top of the wythe beside it, as far as it can be seen

Open mortar joints between flue tiles

A clay flue is only as tight as the joints between its sections. The Florida Building Code specifies medium-duty, water-insoluble refractory mortar with tight joints left smooth on the inside, and only enough mortar to make each joint and hold the liners in position.

Joints can erode, crack or drop out, leaving a gap between two sound tiles. Heat and flue gases then reach the chimney walls behind the liner, and water running down the flue finds another way into the masonry. Mortar left lumpy on the inside face works against the smooth surface the code asks for.

How the repair goes depends on how many joints are open, how high they sit and whether the tiles around them are sound. Scattered gaps in a good liner and a flue with failing joints along its length lead to different jobs. Each flue is written up with the joint condition found and the repair chosen for it.

Workmanship warranty and 100% satisfaction

Approved repairs are backed by our workmanship warranty, and every job carries our 100% satisfaction guarantee. Those promises mean the most when the work itself is clear, so they sit on top of a written estimate that names each repair.

A clear scope protects both sides. If the estimate says the crown is replaced, the counterflashing is reset into the mortar joints and two courses of brick are rebuilt, you know exactly which work is ours and what was done to your chimney.

Some limits are honest to state up front. A repair to one part of a chimney does not make the rest of it new, and parts left in place are listed as left in place. Homeowners in Aloma can ask about the warranty when they review the estimate, and ask again about anything that is not clear.

How a chimney is tied to the house

A chimney built against an outside wall is meant to be fastened to it. Brick Industry Association guidance says single-wythe chimneys should be attached to the structure, generally with corrosion-resistant metal ties.

Those ties sit out of sight. When they rust through or were never installed, the only signs may be a gap opening between chimney and siding, a crack running up the line where the two meet or trim pulling away. The same guidance has the layers of a chimney more than one wythe thick joined with metal wire ties where the masonry itself does not lock them together, so ties can matter inside the chimney as well as at the wall.

Where anchors or ties have failed, BIA maintenance guidance describes proprietary retrofit anchors set through small holes drilled in the masonry, usually in a mortar joint, and attached to the structure behind, with the anchor maker consulted on each product. It says such anchors improve the stability of the masonry. Our crew in Aloma checks the joint between chimney and house during the inspection and writes any re-anchoring into the estimate.