Our Work
Cutting out and resetting chimney bricks in Lake Mary
What spalling looks like on a chimney
Spalling is the face of a brick breaking away in flakes, chips or whole slabs. The fired outer face of a brick works as its protective skin, and once it is gone, the softer body behind it takes rain directly and wears faster. You may see pitted faces, rounded edges or brick fragments collecting on the roof below the chimney.
A spalled brick is not dangerous in itself, but it is a sign that water is getting into the masonry. Our specialists inspect every face of your Lake Mary chimney during the free inspection and mark which units have failed and which are still sound.
Setting the new brick with full joints
Water finds the gaps in a half-filled joint. Technical Note 46 from the Brick Industry Association describes buttering the surfaces of the surrounding brick and of the replacement completely with mortar, centering the new brick in the opening and pressing it into place, then pointing around it to make full head and bed joints.
Our crew follows that sequence on Lake Mary chimneys. The replacement ends up bedded on every side, which keeps it tight in the wall and gives rain no open path around it. Excess mortar is struck off with the trowel before it can smear the face of the surrounding brick.
Coatings that trap moisture
Some sealers form a film on the brick surface. BIA Technical Note 6A warns that film-forming coatings slow the evaporation of water inside masonry and can lead to clouding and spalling when the moisture source is not addressed. Clouding under the film is often the first visible sign.
If a sealer was applied to your chimney in the past and the faces are now breaking, the coating may be part of the cause. Our specialists look for it during the free inspection and explain what the replacement bricks need so they are not sealed into the same problem.
Tying larger repairs into the wall
When several bricks in a group have failed, the repair is not just a set of single holes. The opening is stepped back into sound brickwork, a method called toothing in, so the new courses interlock with the old ones in the same bond. Straight vertical seams through several courses are avoided, since they leave a weak line in the wall.
That keeps the repaired section working with the rest of the chimney. Our specialists explain on the estimate whether your Lake Mary chimney needs single-unit replacements, a toothed-in section or, if the damage is widespread, a larger discussion about rebuilding.
