Service
Chimney Repair in North Miami Beach, FL
Salt air, summer downpours and hurricane winds work on a chimney every day of the year. We find where the water and the weather are getting in, show you what we found, and repair the crown, cap, flashing or masonry that failed.
- Florida license CGC1510833
- Crowns, caps and flashing
- Masonry and mortar joints
Chimney Repair
Signs your chimney needs repair
A chimney rarely fails all at once. In our coastal climate it wears from the top down: the crown cracks in the sun, rain gets into the brick, and the salt in the air rusts every piece of metal on the stack. By the time a stain shows up on the ceiling, water has usually been getting in for a while.
Call us if you notice any of these. Most of them are cheaper to fix early than late, and none of them improves by waiting for the next storm season.
- Water stains on the ceiling or wall next to the chimney, especially after a heavy afternoon storm
- Cracks in the concrete crown on top of the chimney, or pieces of it on the roof
- Crumbling or missing mortar between the bricks
- Bricks that flake, pop or break apart on the face (spalling)
- White, chalky deposits on the brick (efflorescence), a sign that water is moving through it
- A rusted, bent or missing chimney cap
- Flashing that is lifting, cracked or sealed over with old caulk
- A chimney that leans or has a gap where it meets the house
Why it matters
What you get with Chimney Repair
We find the real leak
A stain inside can start at the crown, the cap, the flashing or the brick itself. We check each one before we recommend anything, so you pay to fix the cause and not just the symptom.
Built for wet weather
Crowns are rebuilt with a drip edge that throws water clear of the brick, and flashing is set and sealed to shed the kind of wind driven rain South Florida gets every summer.
Licensed contractor
All About Roofs, LLC works under Florida certified general contractor license CGC1510833, active with the state. You can look it up on the Florida DBPR website before we ever come out.
Photos and a written scope
You see what we see. We photograph the problem areas on the roof and put the repair in writing before work starts, so there are no surprises on the day.
What a chimney repair can include
Every repair starts with a full look at the stack, the roof around it and the inside of the flue. From there the work is matched to what failed. These are the repairs we do most often in North Miami Beach homes.
- Crown repair or rebuild, with a proper overhang and drip edge
- New stainless steel chimney caps and spark arrestors, sized to the flue
- Flashing repair or replacement where the chimney meets the roof
- Tuckpointing: grinding out failed mortar joints and repointing them
- Replacing spalled or broken bricks to match the existing masonry
- Water repellent treatment for brick that still breathes
- Damper repair or a top sealing damper for fireplaces that sit unused
Why chimneys wear faster on the coast
North Miami Beach sits between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic, and the air carries salt well inland. Salt speeds up rust on caps, chase covers and flashing, and it draws moisture into brick and mortar. Add a long rainy season, months of high humidity and the threat of a hurricane every summer, and a chimney that would last decades up north can start leaking within a few years here.
Many local fireplaces are also used only a few nights a year. A chimney that sits idle stays damp, and problems go unnoticed until a leak shows up indoors. That is why we look at the whole system on every repair visit, not only the spot you called about.
Repair or replace?
Most chimneys we see need a repair, not a rebuild. A cracked crown, failed flashing and a few rows of loose mortar can all be fixed while the rest of the masonry stays in place. If a section of the chimney is unstable or the damage runs deep into the stack, we will tell you so plainly, show you the photos and explain what the larger job involves before you decide.
Questions
Chimney Repair questions
Why does my chimney leak only when it rains hard?
Light rain runs off, but a heavy, wind driven storm pushes water into the weakest point: usually a cracked crown, an open joint in the flashing or a cap that no longer covers the flue. We test each of those areas so the repair goes where the water really enters.
Can you repair a chimney crown without rebuilding the chimney?
Yes, in most cases. Small cracks can be sealed with a flexible crown coating, and a crown that is broken or too flat can be removed and recast on top of the existing chimney. The brick below stays as it is unless it is damaged too.
Do I need a new chimney cap?
If your cap is rusted through, bent by a storm or missing, yes. A cap keeps rain, leaves and animals out of the flue, and in our salt air we recommend stainless steel. We measure the flue so the new cap fits it properly.
Is chimney repair something my roofer should handle?
Flashing sits where the roof and the chimney meet, so it is often missed by both trades. We look at the chimney, the flashing and the roofing around it together, and we work under a Florida certified general contractor license, CGC1510833.
How do I know if mortar joints need tuckpointing?
Run a key along a joint. If mortar crumbles out easily, if you can see gaps between bricks or if the joints are recessed deeper than the brick face, the mortar has worn out and needs to be repointed before water gets behind it.
More services
Other services we provide
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