Our Services

Chimney repair in Forest City, part by part

Any open chimney is covered before we leave for the day, and the debris is hauled away when we finish.

Water, heat and movement

Chimneys wear out in three broad ways. Water soaks the masonry and rusts the metal at the top. Heat from fires cracks clay flue tile and wears out the joints in the firebox. Movement, from settling or a heavy impact, opens cracks that let the other two work faster. A repair that answers only one of them can leave the chimney failing in the same place.

All three get looked for before we recommend work in Forest City, so the price you approve covers the real problem.

Why the screen size matters

The mesh around a cap keeps animals out and catches sparks, and its size is not arbitrary. Where a spark screen is fitted, the code sets openings small enough to stop anything wider than half an inch, yet open enough to pass anything under three-eighths of an inch, and it asks that the screen or cap come off for cleaning. Mesh that is too fine clogs with soot, while torn mesh lets nesting material in.

On repair visits in Forest City, the screen is checked along with the cap and replaced when it no longer does either job.

Working alongside your roofer

Chimney work and roof work meet at the flashing, so timing matters. If a roof replacement is planned, repairing the chimney first lets the roofer flash against finished masonry. If the roof is already new, we protect it while we work and reset the flashing with care. Either way, the boundary between our work and the roofer's is written down before anyone starts.

If roof work is already planned, let us know, and the chimney repair in Forest City will be timed around it.

Where sealant belongs in a repair

Some joints on a chimney do call for sealant, such as the bond break around the flue liner at the crown and the seams of the flashing. For those joints, the Brick Industry Association recommends a quality polysulfide, butyl or silicone rubber sealant and rules out oil-based ones. It also notes that caulk is often used to cover poor workmanship. A bead of sealant over a broken crown or loose flashing is not a repair of either.

If we find sealant patches on your chimney in Forest City, we treat them as clues to where earlier leaks were, then repair the part underneath.