Our Services
What a lasting chase repair involves
You see how far we expect to open the chase before you decide, and the inspection is free.
Where water gets into a chase
Water reaches the inside of a chase in a few predictable ways. It comes through a rusted or flat chase top, around a storm collar that has lost its seal, through open seams or trim joints in the siding, through cracks in stucco and at the roof where the flashing has failed.
Each of those paths is checked before anything is opened. Repairing rotted wood without closing the path that rotted it only starts the clock again, so the estimate always pairs the damage with its cause.
A water barrier behind the siding
Siding and stucco are not waterproof on their own. The Florida Building Code requires at least one layer of water-resistive barrier over the studs or sheathing of exterior walls, and a chase is an exterior wall on every side.
When we open a chase, we often find the barrier missing, torn or lapped the wrong way, so water that got behind the siding ran straight into the sheathing. We install new barrier lapped to shed water before any finish goes back on.
Matching the finish on a repaired chase
A repaired chase should blend with the rest of the house. New siding and stucco rarely match weathered material perfectly on day one, and some older profiles are no longer made. Stucco texture and paint sheen matter as much as color, and both are judged on site against the existing walls.
We discuss the closest available match before ordering, show you where new meets old and include priming and painting where the finish calls for it. If a face needs full replacement for a clean match, that option is priced separately.
Access for cleaning and inspection
Some chase chimneys, particularly those that run up an outside wall from a tee, have an access door near the base for cleaning. The DuraTech manual shows an access door for cleaning in its exterior chase installations.
When we rebuild or reclad a chase, we keep any access door working and sealed against the weather. Covering it over makes future cleaning and inspection harder, so it stays reachable. If the door has rusted or lost its seal, we replace or reseal it as part of the chase work and list it on the estimate.
