Santa's Friend Chimney Service Blog

We Repair Old Chimneys

A stately chimney can add to the beauty and grace of an elegant, older home. It brings to mind dinner parties, or quiet family evenings watching the patterns in the flames of a crackling fire. Unfortunately, even these durable old chimneys can suffer from the effect of precipitation and use. Consequently, if not kept in a state of good repair, have the potential to lead to a dangerous situation. Not to mention, being an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful home! Luckily, help is just a phone call away. Santa’s Friend Chimney Service doesn’t just inspect and clean chimneys, they also offer a wide range of chimney repairs and rebuilds.

Repair Work

It’s a well-known fact that you should have your chimney inspected and cleaned on an annual basis. However, has it been a few years since you’ve had an inspection? If so, there are some things that you can see for yourself might indicate repairs are needed:

• Spalling – as water (in the form of precipitation) hits the bricks that make up your fireplace. Over time, it can enter the bricks and cause the brick to flake or peel, reducing the strength of the bricks and compromising the structure of your chimney.
• Crumbling Mortar – if you take a look at your chimney, you may notice that the mortar is loose and crumbly. This is another condition that can compromise the integrity of your chimney. Have you noticed lots of loose, crumbly mortar? You may be looking at a procedure called tuckpointing. This is in when your chimney specialist uses special tools to remove the old mortar and replace it with new mortar. It will matche your old mortar, leaving your chimney structurally secure and looking like new.
• Chimney Fire – believe it or not, you may have had a chimney fire over the course of the winter and not even realized it! When most of us think of a chimney fire, we think of a roaring blaze that could easily overtake the rest of the home; this is not always the case. Most chimney fires don’t have enough fuel or enough air to make them all that noticeable. Nonetheless, damage will occur to the interior of your chimney. Sometimes this damage can only be detected by inspection by a qualified professional. If the damage is left undetected and untreated, you could be in for major, expensive repair work in a few years!

Expert Repair Professionals

Have you kept up with having your chimney inspected and cleaned on an annual basis? If so, chances are any of these problems were caught before they became too worrisome. If you haven’t, then you might be looking at major repairs. You’ll want to get these taken care of as soon as possible, so that you’ll be able to enjoy your fireplace when the cooler days of winter hit. Make sure you call the CSIA certified specialists from Santa’s Friend Chimney Service so that you can use your fireplace safely this winter!

Types of Masonry Restoration

Notice problems in your chimney masonry? Call us and we’ll do the necessary repairs so your chimney will look and function as good as new.

If you have a masonry chimney, you should know that the Chimney Safety Institute of America claims water is your chimney’s greatest enemy because if it penetrates into your masonry joints, it can cause all sorts of expensive repair work, such as structural damage. Another victim of water damage is your chimney crown. To repair this water damage as well as to prevent water damage from even happening, you will need some sort of type of masonry restoration work from a professional chimney company like Santa’s Friend Chimney Service. We have experienced masons on hand that can perform several types of masonry restoration work, and we would like to tell you more about the types of masonry restoration work we provide.

Repointing/Tuckpointing

To provide a better understanding of repointing, the Masonry Magazine, the official publication of the Mason Contractors Association of America, states that looking at the differences between the 100-year old definitions of the masonry terms “pointing,” “jointing,” “repointing,” and “tuckpointing” will give you a better idea of what repointing means today.

• Pointing – The definition of pointing is the placement and careful tooling of a mortar joint between bricks and stones, and contrary to jointing, this process scrapes back the mortar joint several days after the completion of the brickwork.
• Jointing – Jointing is what bricklayers do today, the process of finishing the joint along with the brickwork being completed.
• Repointing – Typically the type of restoration work done on older mortar, 100 years ago, repointing meant replacing a failed mortar joint, which happened about once a century.
• Tuckpointing – The word “tuckpointing” referred to a specialized application of pointing where the bricks were first sanded to a smooth surface and the original mortar joint is masked with a thin strip that matched the brick in color. Then, the joint was meticulously shaved down to match exactly the other joints in the chimney, and a fine, usually white mortar was tucked over the lines and finely manicured to look like no repairs had ever been done.

Today, “repointing” refers to repairing damaged mortar joints by filling in the gaps and holes created by water penetration, and “tuckpointing” refers to replacing deteriorated mortar with new mortar. The experienced and trained masons at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service are able to provide both types of masonry restoration to repair spalling and other damage due to water penetration of your masonry joints.

After explaining the different types of masonry restoration we provide, Santa’s Friend Chimney Service would like to tell you about a water penetration prevention service we offer:

• Waterproofing – Using specially formulated materials that prevent water from penetrating into your bricks and masonry joints but allow vapors to pass through your chimney, our technicians have been applying the Chimney Saver Water Repellent for the past 20 years successfully to chimneys all over the Central Mississippi area. Your chimney will be protected from water penetration that causes the damage that needs masonry repair work.

If you have loose bricks and chips in the mortar of your chimney, contact Santa’s Friend Chimney Service today to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced chimney masons. We would be happy to provide our masonry restoration services to you.