Who to call for chimney repair?

July 6, 2006 6:23 AM

Chimney Repair: With all the rain we've been having, we've found we have water coming in our fire place chimney. We want it fixed and need your recommendations...

I live in Northern Virginia and need to have the 30 year old fire place repaired so water does not pour in through the chimney when it rains. To complicate matters, there is a gas burning fire place inserted into the original brick and mortar. I'm more than happy to get rid of that during the repair. It is getting so wet that the bricks are weeping water.

Who have you used that was good? What questions do I need to ask? What red flags do I need to look for?

Any and all advice and previous experiences are welcome.

posted by onhazier to home & garden (7 comments total)

What kind of pot do you have? Is it the hooded sort? For brownie points, they also keep the birds out.
posted by popcassady at 7:28 AM on July 6, 2006

A good, professional chimney sweep should be able to inspect your chimney and flue to see what's up. Might just be the hood is broken or missing.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:46 AM on July 6, 2006

The chimney cap is still in place and looks like this. The wide band of mortar below the base of the cap has some ugly black stuff which looks like tar or some sort of sealant smeared over what I assume are cracks.
posted by onhazier at 10:01 AM on July 6, 2006

I had this same problem in Seattle - water was leaking out of my fireplace mantle - which I assumed was a chimney problem. One guy came out and added a chimney cap - didn't work. Another guy came out and added some tar to the flashing around the chimney - didn't work. Finally, I had three roofing companies come out and look at the leak. Two of them said I needed to replace my roof - and the third said I should get a repair.

SO - finally I found someone to come out and COMPLETELY replace the flashing and some of the shingles around the chimney. (About $600) And now – no more leak!
posted by mildred-pitt at 12:40 PM on July 6, 2006

Oh - also I had someone repair a crack in the mortar near the chimney cap - that didn't work either!
posted by mildred-pitt at 12:43 PM on July 6, 2006

Thanks, all. I've got two companies coming to inspect it next week.
posted by onhazier at 7:37 PM on July 6, 2006

Hey! I called a guy who is a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep. You can find one here.
posted by meindee at 6:04 PM on February 26, 2007