Chimney chase repair from framing to finish in Princeton/Silver Star

The seam where the chase meets the house

A chase built against the house has a long vertical seam where its side walls meet the house wall. The house siding, the chase siding and the barrier behind each of them all have to overlap in the right order. When they do not, water runs into the seam and down into both walls.

Typical signs are swollen siding along that seam, paint that peels in a vertical line and staining inside the house near the fireplace wall. The seam can also leak where the house roof or a gutter meets the chase.

We open the seam far enough to see how the barrier layers were joined. If the house wall is damaged too, we show you where it stops and list it separately. The estimate covers the chase side and names any house-wall work, so there are no surprises at your Princeton/Silver Star home. Until the seam is closed, both sides stay sheeted against rain.

Three coats of stucco over lath

Stucco on lath is built up in coats. The first, called the scratch coat, is pressed into the lath and scored. The second, the brown coat, builds thickness and flattens the wall. The finish coat carries the texture and color.

Under R703.7.2 of the Florida Building Code, cement plaster over lath goes on in at least three coats. Two coats are allowed directly over masonry, which is why a patch copied from a block wall can end up too thin on a framed chase. It is also why a patch on a chase needs the same full build as a new wall.

A patch built too thin is more likely to crack and let water reach the barrier. When our crew patches or reclads a chase, we build the full three coats and match the finish to the rest of the wall. Your Princeton/Silver Star estimate names the stucco system and the number of coats.

Plywood panel siding with swollen edges

Many chases are sided with grooved plywood panels, the kind that looks like vertical boards. It goes up fast, but its bottom edges and horizontal joints take on water easily. Once the face layers start to separate, the panel seldom recovers.

Swollen or flaking bottom edges, loose face layers and dark stains along the grooves are signs the panel has been wet for a long time. One of the first things to check is whether the panels have sheathing behind them or are nailed straight to the studs, since that changes how much of the wall needs work.

Our crew replaces failed panels full height where they are soft and flashes horizontal joints so water cannot sit on a cut edge. If you would rather move to a different siding, we price that as an option on the written estimate. Panel edges and cut ends are primed before the panels go up.

A family-owned crew on your roof

We are a family-owned and operated company, and locally owned. On a chase job, that shows up in how decisions get made. When a question comes up mid-job, like whether a stained stud can stay, you get a straight answer and a written price before anything changes.

Chase repairs run in stages, so there are several of those moments. Our crew shows you what the opened wall looks like, explains where the damage stops and waits for your approval before going past the estimate. You have one company to call about the job, and that company answers for the finished work. Our family-owned team treats a chase repair in Princeton/Silver Star the way we would want our own house handled, with the yard protected, the debris hauled off and the plan in writing before the first board comes loose.