Chimney repair for homes in Meadow Woods

Spark arrestor screens and their size

Some chimney caps carry a mesh screen around their sides. That screen is a spark arrestor, and on a masonry chimney the Florida Building Code lists what it has to meet.

A spark screen only helps while its mesh is open. Soot, creosote or leaves packed into it cut down the opening the smoke has to pass through, which works against the open area the code sets.

Where a screen is clogged, bent or rusted through, our crew checks whether cleaning will do or the cap needs replacing, and whether a replacement is sized for your flue. Screen and cap then share one priced line.

• Its open area is at least four times the open area of the flue outlet
• The screen resists heat and corrosion
• It can be reached and removed so the flue can be cleaned

A coating is not a new crown

BIA guidance on coatings for brick is blunt about what a clear repellent or a brush-on coating can do. Water usually gets into masonry at cracks and separations, and a repellent cannot stop water getting in through ineffective caps or copings or through mortar joints that were never filled.

A coat spread over a broken crown also hides it. The cracks stop showing from the ground while water keeps finding them. The same guidance says a repellent is not recommended in place of common repairs such as repointing or replacing spalled and cracked brick.

When a crown is cracked, broken or has lost its slope, the estimate prices a crown repair or a new crown, not a coating. Any water repellent on the masonry below is a separate question for after the repairs, written as an optional line rather than as the fix for the top.

Cracks in a stucco chimney finish

A crack in stucco is a break in the outer skin, and the real question is what sits behind it. On a framed chimney, the Florida Building Code puts a water-resistive barrier behind the plaster. Over wood-based sheathing that barrier is normally two separate layers, with flashing directed between them so water that gets in has a way to drain.

Caulking a crack from outside can look tidy for a season. If water has already reached the barrier or the sheathing, the bead just seals it in. Brown streaks below the crack, spots that give when pressed and paint that bubbles can mean the damage runs deeper than the finish.

That is the decision our stucco chimney repair service makes first. When the layers behind are sound, the crack is cut out and patched in coats that match the wall. When they are not, the section is opened, the barrier and flashing are rebuilt and the plaster goes back on. The estimate states which case applies.

The label on a relined flue

When a flue is relined with a material outside the standard list in the Florida Building Code, the code asks for a permanent label in plain view close to where the connector enters the chimney. It names the type of appliance and the fuel the flue is for, and warns against connecting anything else.

The label matters more later than on the day of the install. It tells the next buyer, home inspector or installer what the flue was built for. Without it, someone may connect a different appliance to a liner that was never meant for it, or assume a lining suits a new appliance when it does not.

If your chimney was relined and the label is missing or unreadable, it is worth putting back. Our technicians identify the lining where it can be seen and confirm what it serves. A replacement label goes on the estimate alongside any other flue repair, and if the lining cannot be identified, the estimate says so.