Your family-owned chimney company in Oakshire

Siding that feels soft, bulges or has started to split on the tall box around a chimney is usually a sign of water behind it. If a home in Oakshire, an Orange County community, has a factory-built fireplace, that box is most likely a framed chase with a metal chimney pipe inside. A framed chase is built like an exterior wall.

The Florida Building Code calls for a weather-resistant envelope, with a water-resistive barrier behind the siding and flashing that turns water out at openings and intersections. When the siding, the barrier or the flashing at the roof fails, rain reaches the sheathing and framing, and the damage spreads where nobody can see it. At the top, a metal chase top keeps rain off the enclosure.

DuraVent's installation instructions for one factory-built chimney describe that top sitting on spacers with a ventilation opening around the pipe, a storm collar sealed to the pipe above it and the chimney cap above that, using only the maker's listed parts. A rusted or dented top that holds water sends it straight down into the chase.

Probing the soft areas, looking at the chase top and the roof flashing, and checking the fireplace for rust or water stains tells us how far the damage runs. Replacing a few boards is a different job from opening the chase and rebuilding framing, and the estimate says which one you are looking at. The water gets traced first.

Then we write the chase top, flashing and siding repairs as separate lines so you can see what each one fixes. Oakshire homeowners get the inspection free, pricing upfront, 10% off work booked within 72 hours after it and a workmanship warranty on our repairs.