Family-owned chimney chase repair in Wedgewood Groves

Telling a framed chase from a masonry chimney

Plenty of homeowners are not sure which kind of chimney they have, and it changes the whole repair. A masonry chimney is solid brick or block with a flue inside. A framed chase is a wood box around a metal pipe.

If the chimney turns out to be masonry, the job belongs to a different repair, and we tell you so on the spot. Stucco over block is patched as masonry work. Stucco over a framed chase in Wedgewood Groves is part of chase repair, because the wood behind it is what fails. These clues sort it out from the ground.

• Siding or stucco that matches the house walls, with no brick joints
• A flat sheet-metal top instead of a poured concrete crown
• A round metal chimney cap rising from the top instead of a clay flue tile
• A metal firebox with a maker's label inside the fireplace opening

Radiation shields at the top of the chase

Just under the cover, some chimney systems use roof radiation shields that protect the chase framing around the pipe. In DuraVent's DuraChimney II manual, they go at the top of the chase or where the chimney passes the roof, whichever is the top of the installation, and they do not reduce the required clearance.

Those shields sit on the same top framing that rots when a cover leaks. When the top plate or blocking is replaced, the shields come off and have to go back in their listed position.

Our crew removes and reinstalls the shields as the chimney maker directs, and replaces bent or damaged ones with listed parts. The shields go back before any cover does, so the top of a chase in Wedgewood Groves is rebuilt as one complete assembly.

Interior drywall and paint after a chase leak

A leaking chase often leaves damage inside the house, in the ceiling beside the fireplace, the wall next to it or a closet the chimney passes through. That drywall and paint can only be fixed after the leak is stopped and the wall has dried out. Stains on painted ceilings tend to bleed back through ordinary paint unless a stain-blocking primer goes on first.

Fixing the inside first means doing it twice. Drywall that stays damp behind fresh paint can stain again and grow mildew.

Our crew stops the leak and repairs the chase, then checks the interior area for moisture before it is closed up. A moisture meter on the drywall decides that, not a guess. Interior repairs appear on their own line, and if you prefer your own painter, we tell you when the wall in your Wedgewood Groves home is ready for them.

The paperwork worth keeping after a repair

Once a chase is repaired, most of the work is hidden behind new siding or stucco. Siding hides framing, stucco hides lath, and the next person to look at your chase will not know what is behind either unless it is written down.

Keep the paperwork with your home records. The written estimate names each layer, and any approved change adds what turned up once the chase was opened. Together they tell the next inspector, a buyer or a future repair crew what went into the wall. For homes in Wedgewood Groves, our estimates are written layer by layer partly for this reason.

If you sell the home, those papers give the buyer's inspector answers instead of guesses. These are the details worth keeping together.

• Which faces were opened and how far
• The framing, sheathing, barrier and flashing replaced
• The siding or stucco system and the paint color
• The chimney maker and model, and any listed parts replaced