Chimney Services
Chase repair details that keep water out
Same-day chase inspections are available in Whites Landing when the schedule allows.
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.
A cricket behind a wide chase
On the uphill side of a chase, roof water has nowhere to go but against the wall. A cricket, also called a saddle, splits that flow around the chase, and the Florida Building Code requires one on the ridge side of any chimney or penetration wider than 30 inches measured across the slope.
If a wide chase has no cricket, or the cricket's covering has failed, the uphill corner stays wet after every storm. We point it out at the inspection and price the cricket work separately from the chase itself.
What we check on a chase
A chase inspection covers the chase top and storm collar, the termination cap, the siding or stucco on every face, the trim and corners, the flashing at the roof, any cricket and signs of water inside the house near the fireplace.
The findings come in plain words, along with our view of how far the chase will need opening and a written price for each part of the repair. The inspection is free, and nothing starts until you approve it.
Judging wet and rotted framing
Wood that looks sound can still be wet, and wood that is dry today may have been wet for years. When the chase is open, we check the framing and sheathing by probing for soft spots and, where we can, by reading moisture.
Wet but sound framing is allowed to dry before it is closed in. Soft, crumbling or split wood is replaced. You see which is which before we decide together how much comes out. A moisture reading tells us about the water in the wood and probing tells us about its strength, so we use both.
