Family-owned chimney repair serving Southport

When opening the chimney shows more damage

Some damage only shows once a failed surface comes off. Nobody can promise what sits under an old crown or behind old flashing until it is opened, so an honest estimate keeps what can be seen apart from what can only be judged once the work starts.

Where hidden damage is possible, the estimate says so up front and describes what would change the scope. If opening the chimney does reveal more, work on the new problem waits until you have seen it and heard what it means. The added repair is explained and priced, and nothing beyond the approved scope goes ahead until you say yes. That is what no hidden fees means on a repair.

• Soft or loose brick under a crumbling crown
• A washed-out mortar joint behind rusted flashing
• Old cracks covered by a patch or a coat of sealant

Flashing metal that lasts

Flashing lives in the wettest spot on the roof. BIA guidance notes that corrosion-resistant sheet metal flashing is required by most building codes, and the Florida Building Code requires metal flashing at wall and roof intersections and around roof openings to be corrosion resistant, with a minimum thickness for each kind of metal.

BIA also says quality flashing materials should be specified because replacement may be expensive and troublesome. Replacing it means cutting out the joints that hold the counterflashing and working the roofing back around the chimney, so a thin or poor metal that fails early can cost far more than it saved.

Our crew uses corrosion-resistant metal at or above the code's minimum thickness. The metal is named on the estimate, so you know what is going into the one part of the chimney nobody wants to open twice.

Film coatings that hold moisture in the brick

Some coatings sit on top of brick as a continuous film. BIA guidance on coatings explains that a film keeps water out from the outside but also inhibits the evaporation of water already inside the masonry, which can lead to clouding and spalling if the source of moisture is not addressed. BIA maintenance guidance goes further and says film-forming coatings should not be applied to exterior brickwork.

Salts make it worse. When water cannot pass out through a coating, dissolved salts can be left behind it, and as they crystallize they can grow enough to break the face of the brick. The coating that looked like protection ends up holding the damage in.

If your chimney is already painted or sealed, the first question is where the water is coming from. Flaking faces and clouding under the film show where to look. Your Southport estimate puts the water repair ahead of any new coat and says whether the existing film is part of the problem.

Decorative shrouds on a factory-built chimney top

A shroud is a decorative metal housing set over the top of a chimney to hide the cap and pipe. On a factory-built chimney, the Florida Building Code allows one only where it is listed and labeled for that specific chimney system and installed per the maker's instructions.

The top of a factory-built chimney is part of what was tested. A shroud that encloses the cap can change conditions at the outlet, and the code ties it to the system's own listing. A catalog shroud can look right and still sit outside it.

If a shroud is already in place, the details below show whether it was made for your system. A listed one is repaired or replaced with the listed part. An unlisted one comes off, and the estimate shows the cap or listed shroud that replaces it.

• The maker and model on the chimney label
• A matching listing for the shroud itself
• An install that follows the shroud maker's instructions