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Getting the chase right on your Astor Farms home

Soft, stained or leaking, our pros repair chimney chases across Astor Farms with a written price first.

Keeping the chimney maker's clearances

Every factory-built chimney has a required air space between the pipe and anything that can burn. The DuraVent DuraTech manual, for example, calls for at least 2 inches between its pipe and combustible materials such as lumber, plywood, drywall and building insulation. Other systems set their own figures.

When we reframe a chase, we read the label or manual for the chimney inside and build to its numbers. New studs, blocking and sheathing never close up that space, even where it would make the carpentry easier.

The storm collar at the pipe

A storm collar rings the pipe just above the chase top and throws water off the opening around it. For its system, the DuraTech manual wants a one-inch gap below the collar, above the chase top flashing, and six inches or more between the underside of the chimney cap and the chase top.

A collar that has slipped, cracked its sealant or been caulked solid to the pipe can let water run straight down inside the chase. We check its position and seal against the chimney's manual and correct it as part of the repair.

A chase that leans or pulls away

A chase that tilts, separates from the house wall or shows a widening gap at its corners has usually lost strength at its base or its connections. Wind on a tall chase makes that worse over time. Cracked trim, torn flashing and sealant stretched across a widening joint often come with that movement.

We check how the chase is supported and tied back, find the failed framing and rebuild it to stand plumb. If the chimney pipe inside has been pulled out of line, we assess it separately against its maker's instructions.

Stains inside near the fireplace

Water that gets into a chase often ends up inside the house. It runs down the framing to the top of the fireplace, the wall beside it or the ceiling below the chase, and shows up as a stain or a damp smell after rain.

An indoor stain does not tell you where the water entered. We follow it back up through the chase to the entry point, whether that is the top, a seam or the roof flashing, before quoting a repair.