Who has roof leakage caused by the chimney?

Photo Laura Arrington

Raise your hand if your dealing with or have owned a house with an unrepairable roof leak? The roofing company is still trying to figure it out, but they are almost certain it’s the chimney.

Any ideas on what to do if it is the chimney as far as replacing the brick that’s no longer made? Stone? Board and batten?

?? Could have written this myself. We had our chimney repointed, which helped with half of the leaks. The next step was putting a cement crown on the chimney with an overhang to prevent the water from running down the face of the brick. This did the trick, and we haven’t seen any signs of water 

?? We own a roofing company, I would bet it’s the chimney in one way or another. That’s usually where all the mystery leaks we find are (that or spots causes by horrible roof design). We’ve fixed ones where homeowners say we’re the 3rd company out after they tried multiple times. That said, leaks are tricky. Get another roofer’s opinion, just a change in perspective might help, not to say the first guy is bad or hasn’t tried. Have the flashing really checked out too, tell them anything you can about what’s already been tried. We had to seal the brick on our own chimney when we bought this house after the chimney had clearly been leaking awhile. We reroofed around the chimney and added a cricket, that helped but didn’t totally solve the issue till we sealed it. We just did another house and it took us two visits but we finally found two small cracks in their stucco chimney and solved the issue many roofers couldn’t figure out. The leaks can show up far away from their origin to further complicate the quest too!

?? Looks like it is either the pointing On the bricks or the flashing. If the flashing is good, then it is the mortar. Also check if the chimney it self leaking from taking water down the Shaft. Also tear apart the inside finish’s and trace the water. Water will migrate often a long distance before it finds a way out. 

?? Our roof was leaking during soaking rains. Turned out the cap and mortar had hairline cracks and were porous so we coated the cap and caulked the joints with a stretchy synthetic mortar used in log homes called permachink. No leaks. Looks great.

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