Honest chimney chase repair for Lake Underhill homes

What a full chase rebuild involves

A chimney chase rebuild follows a set order. The fireplace is taken out of use, the cover and chimney cap come off, and the siding and sheathing are stripped down to the framing. Rotted framing is replaced and the box is squared and braced around the chimney pipe.

Firestops, shields and supports inside the chase are checked and reset to the chimney maker's instructions along the way. For homes in Lake Underhill, the full sequence is laid out in the written estimate before work starts. The new chase goes together in this order.

• New framing laid out to keep the listed air space around the pipe
• New sheathing, barrier and flashing at the roof and house wall
• The chosen siding or stucco, trim and paint
• A new or reset cover at the top, priced as its own line

Chimney height when a chase is rebuilt

Rebuilding a chase brings up the height of the chimney above the roof. As one maker's example, DuraVent's DuraChimney II manual quotes NFPA 211 as saying a chimney extends at least three feet above the highest point where it passes through the roof and at least two feet higher than any part of a building within ten feet.

A rebuild that makes the chase shorter, or a roof change that raises the ridge beside it, can leave the chimney too low. The chimney maker's instructions for your system set the final termination details.

Our crew measures the termination before and after a rebuild and checks it against those instructions. If the chimney needs to be taller, the added listed sections appear on the estimate, so the finished height is part of the plan and not an afterthought.

Old patch jobs that hide rot

Many chases have been patched before. Caulk smeared over split siding, roofing tar along the base, a coat of paint over soft wood or a strip of trim nailed over a gap can all hide damage for a while. Some of these fixes went on quickly after a storm, and others were left by a previous owner.

The patch often traps water and makes the rot behind it worse. Tar at the base can block the drainage path, and a trim strip over a split can hold water against the board.

Our technicians look closely at old repairs and probe around them. When a patch is hiding soft wood, we take it off and repair what is behind it. Each old patch we plan to remove gets its own line on your Lake Underhill estimate. If an old patch is sound and covers sound wood, it can stay.

Deciding what sound material can stay

Good chase repair removes what is damaged and keeps what is sound. Tearing off more than needed adds cost and adds joints where old meets new. Keeping soft wood to save money brings the rot right back.

The line between the two is set by testing, not by eye. Firm framing with surface staining can stay. Framing that takes a probe, sheathing that has swollen or lost its layers, and siding split at the ends all come out. Stain alone does not condemn a board, and a clean surface does not clear one, which is why every piece near the damage gets tested.

Our technicians explain the line they drew on your chase and why. Sound siding removed for access goes back up where it can, which helps the match. Reused boards are refastened with corrosion-resistant nails and primed wherever they were cut. Reused and new material are listed apart, so you can see how much of the old chase stayed.