Family-owned chimney chase repair in Roosevelt Park

The layers that make up a chase wall

Every chase wall is a stack of parts, and each one fails in its own way. Knowing the stack helps you read an estimate and ask sharper questions before anything gets torn off.

Water usually gets through the outer finish first, then soaks the barrier, the sheathing and finally the studs. Repairing only the outside layer leaves the rest of that stack wet.

Our crew checks the layers in order and writes down where the damage stops in each one. That is also why our estimate is written layer by layer. From the inside out, a typical chase is built like this.

• Framing, the studs and plates that give the box its shape
• Sheathing, the plywood or strand board nailed over the studs
• A water-resistive barrier, then siding or stucco and trim
• The top plate and framing that sit under the metal cover

Matching stucco texture on a partial repair

A patch that is sound but does not match the wall still bothers most people. Stucco texture depends on the finish coat, the tool and the hand of the person applying it, and old stucco has been weathered by years of sun and rain.

Our crew can make a small test area to match the texture before the finish coat goes on the repair. Color is usually handled with paint over the whole face, since new stucco seldom matches weathered color on its own. Sand size and how the finish coat is floated or thrown both change the look, so the test area may try more than one approach.

We tell you before the job whether a patch will blend in or show, and the estimate says whether painting the full face is included. If the chase and house were painted together, we note the paint color so the touch-up matches.

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.

Repairing the chase or rebuilding it

Many chases can be repaired section by section. A full chimney chase rebuild makes more sense when rot runs through most of the framing, the chase is out of plumb, the finish is failing on every face or you want to change the size or finish anyway.

A rebuild strips the chase down to the chimney pipe, replaces the framing and sheathing, and finishes the box new. It also resets the flashing, the barrier and the top framing, which a patch cannot always reach. A rebuild also lets the new framing be laid out cleanly around the pipe, with every clearance, support and shield set fresh.

Our technicians price both options when both are reasonable, so you can compare. We tell you plainly when a repair would only buy a short time, and when a rebuild is more than you need. Either way, the choice is yours, made with both prices in hand.