Your chimney chase repair crew in Morningside Park

Where water gets into a framed chase

Rot inside a chase traces back to a water path. Finding every path matters more than the size of the stain, because a repair that closes one route and leaves another open will be wet again after the next hard rain.

Each path gets checked during the free inspection on your Morningside Park home, and each one gets its own note in the written estimate. That way you can see which line closes the leak and which line repairs the damage the water caused. Wind direction matters too, since the face that takes the weather tends to leak first. These are the routes our technicians trace.

• A failed metal cover that lets rain run down the inside
• Open butt joints and split boards on the walls
• Gaps at corner boards, trim and the seam with the house
• Roof-line flashing that is missing, bent or lapped backwards

The screed along the bottom edge of the stucco

Stucco on a framed wall needs a clean stop at the bottom. A screed is a metal or plastic strip fastened along the base of the wall, and the stucco is finished against it. R703.7.2 says that on wood-frame construction with an on-grade floor slab, exterior plaster covers the lath, paper and screed but does not extend below them.

When stucco runs past the screed onto the roof, a slab or the flashing, water draining down the barrier has no way out. The bottom edge stays wet, and over time the plate behind it can rot.

On a stucco chase in Morningside Park, our crew checks where the stucco stops at the base and along any roof line. If it runs past the screed or is buried in roofing, we cut it back to a clean edge so water can leave the wall. That edge detail is written into the scope, since it is easy to lose once the finish coat goes on.

Swollen or crumbling sheathing behind the siding

Sheathing is the layer of plywood or strand board nailed to the chase studs. It closes the box and gives the siding something to hold. Wetting that happens again and again can leave it swollen, soft or coming apart in layers.

Swollen sheathing can push the siding out, which is why bulges and wavy siding lines tend to show up first. Nails can lose their grip in soft sheathing, and the siding then starts to rattle or pull loose in wind.

We cut sheathing out back to firm wood at the stud lines and replace it with new panels, fastened as the panel maker directs. The estimate lists sheathing by face of the chase, so you can see how much of the box needed new panels. New sheathing is kept dry until the barrier covers it, and every new panel edge lands on framing.

Wood or gas, the chase shell is the same job

A chase can enclose the chimney for a wood-burning fireplace or the vent pipe for a gas unit. The pipe inside can be a different listed product in each case, with its own instructions, but the shell around it is the same framed wall with the same water problems.

What changes is what we check inside. The clearances, supports and top details come from the listed product in your chase, not from a general rule that fits every fireplace. A chase around a gas vent can still rot at the base, split at the siding joints and leak at the top, just like one around a wood-burning chimney.

Our crew identifies the product before planning the repair and keeps its instructions in front of us. The siding, sheathing and framing repair is priced the same way for either fuel. If the fireplace itself needs service, that is a separate visit on a separate estimate.