Your local chimney repair team in Vista East

Loose stones on a stone veneer chimney

Some stone chimneys are built of solid stone, while others carry the stone as a veneer, one outer layer set against a framed or block chimney behind it. A stone that rocks, drops or shows an open joint around its edge has lost its bond to that backing.

Where masonry veneers a frame chimney, the Florida Building Code requires through-flashing and weep holes so water that gets behind the stone can drain back out. A veneer built without them, or with them buried in mortar, has no way to shed that water.

Our stone chimney repair service chooses between resetting stones and taking down a section. On your Vista East home the estimate names the stones or courses involved and which of these applies.

• A few loose stones on sound, dry backing are reset
• Wet or soft backing behind the stone is repaired first
• Missing flashing at the base means rebuilding that course
• Wide movement across the face points to a section rebuild

Factory-built chimneys take their own listed parts

A factory-built chimney is a tested system. The Florida Building Code requires it to be listed and labeled, and installed and terminated per the manufacturer's instructions. The listing belongs to the whole system, which in one maker's instructions runs from the pipe and supports through firestops and shields to the chase top and cap.

That is why a generic part is a problem even when it fits. Those instructions, DuraVent's for its DuraChimney II chimney, say to use only its authorized parts, not to mix parts from other systems and not to improvise. A section borrowed from another brand or a cap bent up from sheet metal leaves the chimney outside the conditions it was tested under.

Before any part is quoted, the chimney's maker and model have to be known. On a chimney in Vista East, our technicians read the label where it can be reached and write the maker and model on the estimate, so each replacement matches the system already in the house. If the system can no longer be matched, that is said plainly.

Damage left by animals getting in

Birds, squirrels, raccoons and other animals get into chimneys through a missing cap, a torn screen, a gap at the chase top or a cleanout door that no longer closes. What they leave behind is the repair problem.

Chimney swifts need special care. They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and when swifts are nesting in a flue, work there waits until they have left.

Once the animals are out, our chimney animal removal service clears the nesting material and the entry point is closed, whether that takes a new cap, a screen, a chase top repair or a new cleanout door. Removal and repair are listed separately on the estimate, and the damage found tends to look like this.

• Nests and debris packed in the flue
• Chewed or bent screens and caps
• Droppings and nesting material on the damper

Caring for a chimney after the repair

Fresh mortar, concrete and stucco need time to cure. The Florida Building Code sets waiting periods between stucco coats for that reason, and patching and sealing products usually carry their own. What care a repair needs depends on the material used.

Keep paint, sealers and coatings off new work until the product maker allows them. On newly laid brickwork a fairly even white film can appear as the masonry dries. Brick Industry Association guidance on efflorescence calls it new building bloom and says that in most cases it dissipates over time once the brickwork is allowed to dry. Bloom that keeps coming back is a different matter.

The first fire waits until the flue work is complete and cured. Before lighting it, ask whether the repaired flue is ready, because the answer depends on what was used and how long it needs. Keep ladders and foot traffic off new work at the top for a while as well.