Honest chimney chase repair for Wyndham Lakes homes

Rot along the top plate under the cover

The top plate is the horizontal framing at the very top of the chase walls. The metal cover rests on it, and it is the first wood to get wet when the cover leaks or rain blows past the edge. Rot often starts at the corners, where end grain soaks up water.

A soft top plate lets the cover sag, which holds more water and speeds up the rot. It can also pull fasteners loose from the siding just below it.

We check the top plate by hand whenever the cover is off. If it is soft, the plate and the upper ends of the studs are replaced before any cover goes back on. The cover shows up as its own line, so you can tell which job stops the leak and which one repairs the wood it already reached.

Peeling paint and what it says about the wall

Paint peeling off a chase is more than a cosmetic problem. Paint tends to fail from behind, when water in the wood or sheathing pushes it off. Blisters and peeling that come back soon after repainting point to water getting in somewhere. On a chase, peeling tends to start at the base, under trim ledges and just below the top.

Painting over a wet chase traps the moisture and hides the rot for another season. The next coat often fails sooner than the last one did. It also makes the next repair harder to read, because fresh paint hides the stains that show where water has been.

Our crew probes the wood behind any peeling area before recommending paint. If the wood is sound, prep and paint are enough. If it is soft, we find the water path and repair the wall first, then paint. Your written scope in Wyndham Lakes says which case you have.

What a full chase rebuild involves

A chimney chase rebuild follows a set order. The fireplace is taken out of use, the cover and chimney cap come off, and the siding and sheathing are stripped down to the framing. Rotted framing is replaced and the box is squared and braced around the chimney pipe.

Firestops, shields and supports inside the chase are checked and reset to the chimney maker's instructions along the way. For homes in Wyndham Lakes, the full sequence is laid out in the written estimate before work starts. The new chase goes together in this order.

• New framing laid out to keep the listed air space around the pipe
• New sheathing, barrier and flashing at the roof and house wall
• The chosen siding or stucco, trim and paint
• A new or reset cover at the top, priced as its own line

A fireplace you never use still has a chase

In some houses the fireplace has sat unlit for years. The chase around its chimney still takes the same rain and sun as the rest of the house, and it can rot just as badly when nobody is watching it.

An unused fireplace can hide a chase leak for a long time, because nobody sees the rust or damp ash in the firebox. The first sign may be a ceiling stain or soft siding.

Our technicians inspect the chase whether or not you burn fires. If you plan never to use the fireplace, we can talk through the upkeep the chase still needs and the options the chimney maker allows at the top. For Wyndham Lakes homeowners, we treat the chase as a wall that has to stay dry.