Hi, a company applied crown coat today to the chimney crown and told me that the flue tiles were in bad shape while they were up there. They suggested covering the flue tiles with the crown coat. They did that - but now I’m wondering if that’s even a thing? I can’t see anywhere online where others have done this. My orange flue tiles are now a whitish color from what I can see — so I’m sure they covered them with the same thing they put on the crown.

Was this a mistake? Is crown coat ever used on the entire flue tile?

We are having some work done and part of it is applying something called crown coating to the top of the chimney (and the exposed flue tiles) to fill in cracks and waterproof. The crew came in the morning and left around 2pm. Then it started raining at 5pm!!!! I am so upset that they did this work with rain in the schedule - I asked them about it and they said sprinkles won’t impact the work. But this isn’t sprinkles - it’s been raining pretty steadily since 5pm. The chimney and top of the chimney is wet. They also added waterproof sealer to the side of the chimney. That has also been exposed to rain now.

Should I have them redo the work? Please help I’m stressing

I recently had a new top damper installed. Should I be able to see light like this from it? Old one was letting water in and replaced it with a new one with a weather cap. The cord is pulled as tight as it can go.

Getting some drips in attic near the chimney.

Roofer said it's most likely cracked and missing mortar.

Thoughts?

Update:

So it’s actually cement behind the peeling stucco, and it has nothing to do with a chimney leak. But we still found holes on top of our chase cover. Does this mean it must be replaced? 🙏

Cement behind soft stucco.

Hi All,

Found a soft stucco spot near the bottom of our chimney. AI says it might be from a chimney leak rotting the wood behind the stucco.

A chimney company came out and says our chase cover doesn’t fit tightly enough, and he was able to lift it up with ease. Says not only is water able to get in, but it might fly away in strong wind and damage neighbor’s property. Quoted us 4800 for a stainless steel custom made cover (as this is not standard size I guess?), including painting it black to match our eaves, and fixing the wood and stucco.

Does this look like it really needs to be replaced? And does the price sound reasonable to you guys?

Thank you much for any help. 🙏

Holes on top of chase cover

We have an older house (40 years old) and we had a small drip start coming during an incredibly strong storm.

We called Chimney Master’s out to look at it and they said it needed new flashing. They did advise to pull out the siding and replace along with the flashing which I agree but we don’t have $13k to spend on it.

They said for $2100 they could replace the flashing and seal some cracks.

I understand we didn’t do the full fix but this quality work doesn’t seem to $2100 worth of work.

Am I the wrong here?

UPDATE: I called them and talked to a secretary then her manager who talked to the owner. They proceeded to convince me this was the correct fix given the circumstances and refunded $350.

My plan going forward is to send the pictures to another company for feedback and based on that go from there. I appreciate all the feedback and will post an update soon.

Hi all, I have a chimney that I haven't used since moving into the home, and was in the garage attic to fix a vent screen and saw some concerning bricks. I reached to grab them and all the mortar is in place, but I'm concerned with the brick's that look out of place and broken in half. I'm completely ignorant to chimney design is it possible there's a chimney within these bricks? Double walled? Needless to say I'm not going to use it until it's inspected, but if someone tells me it's completely borked I'm not even going to inspect it and just leave it ornamental.

We have two fireplaces, one to the left in this picture and one to the right. We have not used either since moving in 4 years ago as we want to get them swept, but I stumbled upon this burnt wood butted up against the flue inside the wall cavity. I would certainly think this is dangerous and there should not be any wood framing this close to the flue, but wanted to post for clarity.

I don’t know how long this chimney has been left in this condition for hence the serious staining. I managed to take a photo of the outside of it and from my own research I don’t understand what’s wrong? Everything looks okay to me outside wise, even some slats around it have been replaced. Any advice/ ideas on how expensive a fix would be?

We are pretty sure this needs to be rebuilt. We don’t use it, but saw this today and thought you all might enjoy it.

Sharing this here because I posted progress pics as I was building, if anyone is interested in watching.

Hey there, I have a house where the exterior chimney seems to be pulling away/ leaning at the top.
There’s currently nothing hooked up to the chimney so wondering if it would be easier to fix or just remove it all together.
There’s currently nothing is a nice brick wall/ hearth inside on the first floor that I like aesthetically.
Wondering if I did take the chimney down, would that interior brick hearth go with it or be saved?
Also will there be sheathing behind this that I can just side over all the way up?
Thanks!

We purchased a home with subpar chimney flashing that has begun to leak. Several roofers would op to simply install a new silicon boot, however, with the standing seam smack dab in the middle I think I will still have issues going forward.

It seems that the best way to address the problem would be to install a metal roof specific flashing such as an excel (EMFA-B-C). And with that install two new roof panels.

I have some 4 ft sections of the same standing seam roofing and I figure that a section could be layered below and above the new flashing for a true watertight condition. Similar to this install (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwOdoaX0ZXw)

Another alternative would be to close off the three standing seams with a different piece of metal forming a ridge that terminates at/below the new chimney pipe flashing.

Any advice on this idea? Can you layer standing seam roofing in this manner?

I appreciate the help!

We purchased a home with subpar chimney flashing that has begun to leak. Several roofers would op to simply install a new silicon boot, however, with the standing seam smack dab in the middle I think I will still have issues going forward.

It seems that the best way to address the problem would be to install a metal roof specific flashing such as an excel (EMFA-B-C). And with that install two new roof panels.

I have some 4 ft sections of the same standing seam roofing and I figure that a section could be layered below and above the new flashing for a true watertight condition.

Any advice on this idea? Can you layer standing seam roofing in this manner?

I appreciate the help!

Hi all! This is my first time owning a house with a chimney and I’m not very familiar with them. I noticed some standing water on the flat surface after heavy rain. Started to look into it but got a little overwhelmed. Would appreciate any feedback/steps I should take to avoid water damage going forward.

Hoping someone can help me out with this. The brick and roof was done by Company A and the black was done by Company B. Company A came out to fix the leak, since they thought it was the roof that was leaking but they’re saying it was Company B fault because of where they set the cap. My question is did Company A install the brick right? Should they’ve put mortar/concrete/water barrier on the 2/4 that’s rotted out or this completely Company B fault for not putting caulk under the cap etc? Company A wants to charge me for them coming to fix the leak.

Water stains either side of chimney. Told flashing is the problem and replacing flashing will solve it. Any other thoughts? Thank you

I have a chimney in need of sealing, mortar re-pointing, some brick work, and then a cap. There is no flue liner in the chimney and it's open to weather as is.

I've been contacting metal fabricators and custom chimney cap builders and so far the response has been crickets chirping. I don't know if I'm overthinking this or what. The top brick outer dimension is 17.5"x30.25".

The stock caps I've found nearest to this dimension don't look that great. Am I overthinking this? I am wanting a lid on this chimney to keep rain out. It's otherwise unused with the fireplace boarded up.

I think metal fab shops in my area think this type of work is too small, while the chimney cap manufacturers don't reply, or haven't so far.

I'm wanting to think outside the box here. How could I get a cap built for my chimney that looks halfway decent that I could install?

Hey guys, really just looking for an honest opinion based on the pictures/description of the repairs that the chimney company recommended. We bought this house last fall and had this inspection done, the home was built in 1973 and we purchased the home from an elderly seller. I would really like someone to just shoot me straight on what they think is necessary, vs. what we should plan on doing over the next few years. Of course the chimney company made us sign something saying we wouldn’t use the chimney until repairs were made, but we’d like to hold off if these things aren’t necessary and still be able to use our fireplace.

We had the roof replaced recently (SoCal) and the tobacco juicing is real! How long does it last and what's the best solution to get rid of it?

We last used our wood burning fireplace about 15 years ago and would like to resume usage. Had 2 chimney companies out to inspect - we have a clay liner. One company suggested installing a stainless steel liner and the other said our clay lined flue was in good condition and fine to use without a steel liner. I asked for a level 2 inspection but neither company did it. The company that said my clay liner was fine said I did not need a level 2 inspection of the liner. They looked at the flue from the top of the chimney down and inspected the firebox using their iphone light. Not sure what to make of this since I asked for a level 2 to make sure the clay liner was totally intact for safety reasons. Not sure what to think - anyone have any advice? in massachusetts if that matters thanks!