Our Process
Waterproofing a chimney in Gabriella, in detail
Letting the repairs prove themselves first
Patience is part of good waterproofing advice. After remedial repairs are completed and inspected, Technical Note 6A advises waiting several months to see whether a water repellent is still necessary, because moisture problems are often corrected by those repairs alone.
We are comfortable recommending that approach. If your Gabriella chimney stays dry after its repairs, you may not need a repellent at all, and if it still absorbs water, the treatment can be booked with better information in hand. Either way the decision is yours, and a follow-up look after the repairs is free.
Chimneys with an unknown earlier treatment
Plenty of homeowners do not know whether their chimney was sealed before they bought the house. Technical Note 6A cautions that a coating incompatible with an existing treatment can harm durability and appearance, that reapplication can cause clouding, and that an existing coating sometimes has to stay in place until it wears off.
Signs of an earlier product include sheen, uneven darkening or water that beads on some faces and soaks into others. If the history is unclear, the test area answers the question before the whole chimney is treated.
Stucco chimneys and water repellent
Portland cement stucco is porous and can take a penetrating repellent. The ChimneySaver data sheet lists portland cement stucco among its uses and gives it a coverage range of its own, which reflects how differently stucco absorbs compared with brick.
Cracks in stucco are a repair first. Our specialists check the finish on a stucco chimney in Gabriella for cracks, soft spots and separation at the trim, and quote stucco repair separately from any repellent. A sound but thirsty stucco finish can then be treated, with a test area first, as on any surface.
Booking chimney waterproofing
Waterproofing starts with the free inspection, where the surface is assessed, repairs are identified and the area to be treated is measured. The application is then scheduled for a dry day, and repairs that need to cure come first. If repairs are needed, the repair visit and the treatment visit are listed separately, so you can see the sequence and the price of each.
When the schedule has room, the inspection can happen the same day. Anything you book with our family-owned company in the 72 hours after it is 10% off.
