Where a wide chimney meets a clay tile roof
Flashing on a tile roof is shaped around and under the tiles, and a slipped or broken tile beside the chimney can let water past flashing that is itself sound.
A wide chimney on a sloped roof also dams the water running down toward it. A cricket, a small ridged diversion built on the uphill side, splits that flow around the stack. Without one, water and leaves collect against the chimney, and on a lot with large trees the leaves hold the water there long after the rain stops.
Signs of a chimney leak, room by room
The place the leak shows depends on how the water travels, so look in more than one spot.
- 1An upstairs ceiling stain next to the chimney breast.
- 2Damp or a musty smell in a closet that backs onto the stack.
- 3Peeling paint or bubbling plaster on the chimney breast.
- 4Rust streaks on the damper or water in the firebox after rain.
- 5A musty smell from the fireplace in the days after a storm.
Tell us whether the chimney is brick or stucco, what the roof is covered with, and where the water shows inside. Call or send the details, and ask for an estimate for the work.
Tracing the source on a chimney with several flues
A stack carrying several flues has a large crown with several openings, and every uncapped flue is a direct path for rain. A flue that serves a fireplace nobody uses is easy to forget and can deliver water straight to a damper that has rusted open.
Tracing works from the bottom up, wetting the flashing first, then the cladding, then the crown and flue tops, one at a time, while someone watches inside. On a two-storey house the watcher may need to be in more than one room.
Repairs matched to where the water enters
Loose stucco is cut out and replaced, with attention to how it meets the flashing. Tile-roof flashing is repaired with the tiles lifted and reset. A missing cricket is added. The crown is sealed or rebuilt, and the California Residential Code calls for a masonry chimney cap with a drip edge and a bond break around the flue liners.
Each open flue gets a cap, or one cap is fitted over the group. Any permit question for the work is decided by the City of San Marino.
What a San Marino chimney leak estimate depends on
The number of entry points, how much stucco has come away, the roof covering, whether a cricket has to be built, the number of flues to cap, and the height of the stack. Interior plaster and paint repair is a separate trade.