Honest chimney repair for Hibiscus homeowners

Rebuilding the top from the roofline up

When the damage sits in the stack above the roof, a partial rebuild can start at the roofline. The failed masonry comes down to sound courses, and the new brick goes up with the flashing details and the top built in from the start.

A rebuilt top is built to the Florida Building Code's rules for termination and caps. The chimney has to rise high enough above the roof it passes through and above nearby parts of the building, and a masonry chimney is finished with a concrete, metal or stone cap that has a drip edge and slopes to shed water.

Rebuilding is also the moment to correct a top that was never right, such as one built too short or finished with a flat, thin layer of mortar. This work belongs to our chimney rebuild service, and while the top is open it is covered at the end of each work day, with the debris cleaned up and hauled away. The estimate lists the courses that come down, the new cap and flashing and how the new brick will be matched to the old.

Film coatings that hold moisture in the brick

Some coatings sit on top of brick as a continuous film. BIA guidance on coatings explains that a film keeps water out from the outside but also inhibits the evaporation of water already inside the masonry, which can lead to clouding and spalling if the source of moisture is not addressed. BIA maintenance guidance goes further and says film-forming coatings should not be applied to exterior brickwork.

Salts make it worse. When water cannot pass out through a coating, dissolved salts can be left behind it, and as they crystallize they can grow enough to break the face of the brick. The coating that looked like protection ends up holding the damage in.

If your chimney is already painted or sealed, the first question is where the water is coming from. Flaking faces and clouding under the film show where to look. Your Hibiscus estimate puts the water repair ahead of any new coat and says whether the existing film is part of the problem.

Rust on a steel lintel or support angle

Some chimneys and fireplaces rely on steel to carry masonry. Over a fireplace opening, the Florida Building Code has the masonry supported by a noncombustible lintel with bearing at each end, and brickwork elsewhere can sit on steel shelf angles.

Rust on steel that carries brick is more than a stain. BIA maintenance guidance lists accumulated rust on lintels or shelf angles among the conditions it treats as structural, the kind that warrant a professional engineer's investigation.

Light surface rust and accumulated rust are not the same finding, and the difference is checked up close. At your Hibiscus home, a lintel with heavy rust is written on the estimate as a structural item with an engineer's evaluation recommended, not as a paint job.

• Rust building up in layers on the exposed steel
• Cracked mortar joints just above the steel
• Brick over the opening that has dropped out of line

Cracks near the base of an outside chimney

An outside chimney is heavy, and it sits on its own footing of concrete or solid masonry, as the Florida Building Code requires. BIA guidance on chimney construction says soil conditions and type should be accounted for when that foundation is designed.

When the support below moves, the chimney above it shows the signs. BIA maintenance guidance treats the signs listed here as structural, and it puts structural issues outside the scope of ordinary maintenance.

Our crew notes what the base shows and where the cracks run. For homeowners in Hibiscus, the estimate says plainly when the next step is an engineer's evaluation rather than a mortar patch, and it holds back any masonry repair that depends on the answer.

• Cracks that run through several bricks near the ground
• Stepped or diagonal cracks in the lower courses
• Masonry at the base that bulges or has moved out of plane