Chimney Flashing & Repair in Westerville, Ohio

Why do chimneys leak?

Because the chimney is a hole through the roof, and the detail that seals it is the hardest one on the house to do correctly. The usual culprits, in order:

• Failed or absent step flashing where the chimney meets the slope. Someone caulked it instead of flashing it — caulk is a two-year fix on a thirty-year detail.
• Counterflashing not let into the mortar joint, just surface-sealed to the brick. It pulls away as the masonry moves.
• No cricket on the up-slope side of a wide chimney, so water and debris pile against it.
• Cracked crown at the top, letting water into the masonry itself.
• Missing cap, so rain goes straight down the flue — see chimney caps in Westerville.

What is a cricket and do I need one?

A cricket is a small peaked structure built behind a chimney on the up-slope side, diverting water and debris around it instead of letting it pond against the masonry. Code generally requires one where the chimney is more than 30 inches wide across the slope.

Plenty of older Westerville chimneys do not have one, and it shows as a stain on the ceiling below and rot in the deck behind the chimney. If we are reflashing a wide chimney we will quote the cricket, because reflashing without one just resets the same clock.

Flashing repair or full rebuild?

If the masonry is sound and only the flashing has failed, reflashing solves it — new step flashing woven into the courses, new counterflashing let into a cut mortar joint and sealed.

If the brick is spalling, the mortar has failed or the crown is cracked through, masonry work comes first. Flashing into failing masonry does not hold. We will tell you which situation you have, with photographs.

Chimney leak repair near Westerville

Free inspection with photographs of the actual failure point. Call (330) 918-1018.

Other services in Westerville, OH

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Chimney Flashing & Repair in Westerville — common questions