Your local chimney repair team in Tangerine

Tracing water from the top of the chimney down

Water runs downhill, so a leak investigation starts at the top and works down. BIA guidance on chimney construction shows how much of the design is about the top, from the cap and its drip to the flue liner and the flashing at the roof, and a failure high up can show as a stain well below it.

Order matters because water entering near the top can run down the faces and through the masonry before it appears. New flashing fitted under a cracked crown can leave the leak running, and the flashing takes the blame.

When several entry points fail at once, the highest one goes first. Chimneys in Tangerine get the same top-down check, and each entry point is priced on its own line so the order of the work is clear.

• The crown and any cap or screen above it
• The top of each flue liner and its joint with the crown
• Brick faces and mortar joints on every side
• Flashing where the chimney meets the roof, or siding on a framed chase

Rebuilding the top from the roofline up

When the damage sits in the stack above the roof, a partial rebuild can start at the roofline. The failed masonry comes down to sound courses, and the new brick goes up with the flashing details and the top built in from the start.

A rebuilt top is built to the Florida Building Code's rules for termination and caps. The chimney has to rise high enough above the roof it passes through and above nearby parts of the building, and a masonry chimney is finished with a concrete, metal or stone cap that has a drip edge and slopes to shed water.

Rebuilding is also the moment to correct a top that was never right, such as one built too short or finished with a flat, thin layer of mortar. This work belongs to our chimney rebuild service, and while the top is open it is covered at the end of each work day, with the debris cleaned up and hauled away. The estimate lists the courses that come down, the new cap and flashing and how the new brick will be matched to the old.

Cracks in the chimney breast inside the room

The chimney breast is the part of the chimney that shows inside the room, finished in plaster, drywall, brick or stone. A crack there can be finish movement where two materials meet, or the first visible sign of water or structural movement behind the wall.

Brick Industry Association maintenance guidance lists differential movement among the possible causes of masonry distress. It also notes that with differential movement or improper flashing the source may be hidden and found only through closer diagnosis.

Our technicians read the inside crack together with the outside of the chimney and the flue, because the cause is often not in the room at all. For your Tangerine home, the estimate separates the repair at the source from patching the finish, so the patch is not wasted. Any of the signs below moves a crack out of the cosmetic column.

• A brown stain or bubbling paint beside the crack
• A crack that keeps growing or reopens after patching
• A stepped or diagonal line through brick

What a finished repair should show you

When the job is done, you get a written record of the work we did, and you should be able to understand it without climbing onto the roof. Each line on it names a part and a repair, and each one should match something you can see or have explained to you.

Some results take time to show, like mortar color that evens out as it dries. When the job calls for it, a leak repair is checked with a water test from a hose.

Keep the record with the house paperwork and look at the repaired area from the ground now and then. If a line does not match what you see, ask us about it. Depending on the job, results like these should be easy to confirm.

• New or rebuilt masonry visible from the yard or a window
• Counterflashing set into the joints, not glued to the face
• A damper or cleanout door that opens and closes by hand
• A clear answer on when the fireplace can be used again