Chimney System Crack Repair From Top Hat & Tails
As your chimney care company, one of our goals is to ensure that you’re consistently using a leak-free, smoke-tight, and well-performing chimney. Working against us in that goal are cracks, which commonly pop up due to weather, time and other factors.
The bad news: as hard as we work to prevent and protect against masonry cracks, they can’t be 100 percent prevented. The good news: Top Hat & Tails’ experts can fix the masonry cracks that do occur and bring your chimney back to the levels of safety and performance you expect and need from it.
Common Areas And Types Of Chimney Cracks
When Top Hat & Tails’ technicians visit for your annual chimney inspection, we check your system top to bottom, and cracks are one of the things we’re looking for. A few of the components that we routinely find cracks in/on:
Chimney Liner Cracks
Your chimney flue has a liner installed to protect your masonry and nearby building materials, and to help ensure optimum draft, performance, and safety. If you have a clay tile liner — which many older chimneys have — it’s possible for the mortar joints joining the tiles, or the tiles themselves, to develop cracks. This diminishes the safety and performance of your chimney greatly. Depending on the extent of the damage, we may be able to make repairs, or we may need to reline the chimney. Learn more about chimney relining here.
Chimney Crown Cracks
Installed horizontally up at the top of your chimney, your crown is subjected to steady sun and the brunt of rain, sleet and snow, year after year. It’s not uncommon for cracks to develop, and not uncommon for those cracks to lead to troubling leaks. Depending on the damage, we may be able to repair the cracks with a sealant, or we may need to make more intensive repairs or even rebuild.
Mortar Joint Cracks
The joints that hold the bricks of your masonry chimney together with a watertight seal can also develop cracks that need attention. The solution may be repointing — or the careful removal of damaged joints and replacement with proper, fresh joints. Read more about repointing here.
Firebox Mortar Joint Cracks
Your firebox is the component of your fireplace that actually holds the burning fire, so, as you can imagine, it’s subjected to an immense amount of heat use after use. Although fireboxes are built with strong and resilient refractory brick and mortar, time, use and moisture can lead to cracks, which should be repaired as quickly as possible.
Those are just a few of the issues that can arise, and a few of the problems we’d be proud to repair for you.
For Quality Crack Repairs, Call Top Hat & Tails
If you’d like to make an appointment with our experienced technicians, or if you have any questions about crack repairs, give Top Hat & Tails a call at 973-450-1947! You can also request an appointment online.
If you have a masonry chimney, it will last longer if you protect it with a waterproofing treatment from the chimney services team here at Top Hat & Tails.