Chimney repair for homes in Lake Nona

Reading cracks in chimney masonry

Cracks in a chimney fall into two very different groups. Hairline cracks in mortar joints and thin gaps where mortar has let go of the brick are maintenance items, and BIA guidance lists both among the conditions that call for repointing.

The second group looks different. Cracks that run through several bricks, cracks that climb in a stepped or diagonal line and masonry that has moved out of plane are conditions BIA maintenance guidance treats as structural. It says issues like these generally warrant an investigation by a professional engineer to find the cause and the right repair.

Filling a structural crack with mortar changes how it looks and does nothing about why it opened. When the first group turns up, it is priced as joint repair. When the second group turns up, the estimate says so in plain words and recommends an engineer's evaluation before any structural work is priced.

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.

Loose stones on a stone veneer chimney

Some stone chimneys are built of solid stone, while others carry the stone as a veneer, one outer layer set against a framed or block chimney behind it. A stone that rocks, drops or shows an open joint around its edge has lost its bond to that backing.

Where masonry veneers a frame chimney, the Florida Building Code requires through-flashing and weep holes so water that gets behind the stone can drain back out. A veneer built without them, or with them buried in mortar, has no way to shed that water.

Our stone chimney repair service chooses between resetting stones and taking down a section. On your Lake Nona home the estimate names the stones or courses involved and which of these applies.

• A few loose stones on sound, dry backing are reset
• Wet or soft backing behind the stone is repaired first
• Missing flashing at the base means rebuilding that course
• Wide movement across the face points to a section rebuild

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.