Family-owned chimney repair serving Lake Terrace

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 Lake Terrace, 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.

A chimney too short for the roof around it

The Florida Building Code sets a minimum height. A chimney must extend at least three feet above the highest point where it passes through the roof, and at least two feet higher than any part of the building within ten feet. Brick Industry Association guidance names chimney height and flue area as the two most critical factors in chimney design.

Chimneys come up short when the house changes around them. A second story, a raised roof, a dormer or an addition inside that distance can leave a chimney that met the rule when it was built now too low. Smoke that lingers at the opening or drifts back indoors can be one result.

The fix is extending the chimney to the height the code calls for, in masonry on a masonry chimney or in listed sections on a factory-built one, then finishing the new top. Our crew in Lake Terrace measures the chimney against the roof and any wall within that distance, and the estimate shows the added height and how it will be finished.

When the 24/7 emergency line makes sense

Our 24/7 emergency line is for chimney problems that cannot wait for a regular visit. A section of masonry that has fallen or is about to, water pouring in around the chimney or a chimney struck by a falling limb all qualify.

Fire and smoke are a different matter. If there is a fire in the chimney or smoke filling the room, get everyone out and call 911 first. The fire department comes before any chimney company, and the chimney is looked at only once they say the house is safe.

When you reach the line, describe what happened, where it is on the house and whether anything is still coming down or coming in, so the visit to your Lake Terrace home can start at the right spot. In the meantime, keep everyone away from it and stay off the roof.

Cracks in the chimney breast inside the room

The chimney breast is the part of the chimney that shows inside the room, finished in plaster, drywall, brick or stone. A crack there can be finish movement where two materials meet, or the first visible sign of water or structural movement behind the wall.

Brick Industry Association maintenance guidance lists differential movement among the possible causes of masonry distress. It also notes that with differential movement or improper flashing the source may be hidden and found only through closer diagnosis.

Our technicians read the inside crack together with the outside of the chimney and the flue, because the cause is often not in the room at all. For your Lake Terrace home, the estimate separates the repair at the source from patching the finish, so the patch is not wasted. Any of the signs below moves a crack out of the cosmetic column.

• A brown stain or bubbling paint beside the crack
• A crack that keeps growing or reopens after patching
• A stepped or diagonal line through brick