Your local chimney repair team in Princeton/Silver Star

Where the flue liner meets the crown

A flue liner should stand up out of the crown rather than stop flush with it. BIA guidance shows the liner extending above the top of the cap, and the Florida Building Code requires a caulked bond break around any flue liner at the cap.

The point of a bond break is that the liner and the cap stay separate pieces. BIA guidance has the cap and liner interface thoroughly primed, backed and sealed to reduce the potential for water getting in. Solid mortar packed tight against the liner locks the two into one rigid piece, and a rigid joint that cracks opens a path for water right beside the flue.

This joint gets its own look on every chimney. The fix is written as a separate item, apart from any work on the crown surface.

• Cracked mortar packed against the liner
• A missing or split sealant bead
• A liner that stops at or below the crown surface

Broken and spalled brick faces

Spalling is when the face of a brick breaks away and leaves a rough, recessed surface behind. BIA maintenance guidance notes that water gets through broken or badly spalled brick, and that the damaged units may have to be replaced.

Replacing a brick without finding out why it spalled only sets up the next one, so the joints, the top and the flashing around the damage are checked first. Our chimney brick replacement service handles the work, and on your Princeton/Silver Star home the estimate lists the bricks to be replaced along with the cause they point to.

• The damaged brick is broken out to make removal easier
• Mortar around the opening is cut away without harming the neighbors
• New brick and the opening are fully buttered and the brick pressed in
• Joints are pointed and tooled to match the original profile

A damper that will not open or close fully

A masonry fireplace is supposed to have a damper. Under the Florida Building Code it is a ferrous metal damper, installed in the fireplace or in the chimney that vents it, and operable from the room. A typical one is a metal plate in a frame just above the firebox, moved by a handle or a rod.

Rust sets in on the plate and frame, and then the damper sticks halfway, the handle turns without moving it or it closes with a gap. EPA wood-burning guidance lists a damper that is not open wide enough among the conditions under which creosote tends to build up. One that will not close leaves the flue open to the house.

Rust on a damper is also a clue that water is getting in from above, so the top gets a look too. Our chimney damper repair service decides between freeing the old damper and replacing it, and your Princeton/Silver Star estimate lists the damper and any repair at the top as separate items.

A written estimate that names each repair

A line that says chimney repair with one price under it tells you very little. A useful estimate breaks the job into components, the crown, the flashing, a section of brickwork, the damper, so you can see what each part needs and what it costs.

Each line on ours names the part, the problem found and the repair, with its own price. That makes it easy to compare with another contractor's figures, to phase the work or to approve only the urgent items first. Pricing is upfront, with no hidden fees added once the job starts.

Items you could put off are easy to spot, because nothing is bundled into a single total. The estimate is free, it is in writing before any work, and nothing starts until you approve it. For homeowners in Princeton/Silver Star, the lines you approve are the scope of the job.