Chimney repair for homes in Haralson Estates

Weep holes and through-flashing at the base of veneer

At the bottom of a brick or stone veneer chimney there should be flashing under the first course, with small openings called weep holes just above it. Together they give water that gets behind the veneer a way out. The Florida Building Code requires both where masonry veneers a frame chimney.

Weeps are easy to spoil by accident. They get filled with caulk by someone who takes them for gaps, painted over or clogged from inside by mortar droppings. Brick Industry Association guidance treats flashing and weeps as essential details that no coating replaces, and it describes clearing clogged weeps with a thin dowel or stiff wire without damaging the flashing behind them.

Any water complaint on a veneer chimney includes a look at its base for the points below. Reopening blocked weeps, or adding them where they were left out, is priced as a separate line from the repair higher up.

• A row of open weeps just above the base flashing
• Flashing visible at the bottom course
• No caulk, paint or mortar plugging the openings

Factory-built chimneys take their own listed parts

A factory-built chimney is a tested system. The Florida Building Code requires it to be listed and labeled, and installed and terminated per the manufacturer's instructions. The listing belongs to the whole system, which in one maker's instructions runs from the pipe and supports through firestops and shields to the chase top and cap.

That is why a generic part is a problem even when it fits. Those instructions, DuraVent's for its DuraChimney II chimney, say to use only its authorized parts, not to mix parts from other systems and not to improvise. A section borrowed from another brand or a cap bent up from sheet metal leaves the chimney outside the conditions it was tested under.

Before any part is quoted, the chimney's maker and model have to be known. On a chimney in Haralson Estates, our technicians read the label where it can be reached and write the maker and model on the estimate, so each replacement matches the system already in the house. If the system can no longer be matched, that is said plainly.

10% off when you book within 72 hours

Book within 72 hours after your free inspection, and 10% comes off any service with our family-owned team. Ask for it when the estimate is written, and the offer is shown there so you can see it before you approve anything.

The offer goes furthest on the repairs that matter most. If the inspection turns up several problems, start with the ones that affect safety and water entry, such as loose masonry, failed flashing or a damaged flue. That way the savings land on the work that protects the rest of the chimney, and cosmetic items can follow later.

Every price on the estimate is upfront, with no hidden fees, and the discount comes off the work you approve. Homeowners in Haralson Estates get the same free inspection and written estimate whether they use the offer or not.

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 Haralson Estates checks the joint between chimney and house during the inspection and writes any re-anchoring into the estimate.