Is Your Chimney Showing Signs of Deterioration? When to Repoint or Rebuild?

Keeping your chimney’s structural integrity and appearance well maintained should be on the to do list of every homeowner. Unfortunately, the homeowner maintenance list can be quite long leaving your chimney neglected. Chimney’s are exposed to some of the harshest elements your home faces especially in our harsh Ottawa winters. This can cause minor problems to rapidly accelerate if left unaddressed leading to costly chimney repairs. Repointing or rebuilding your chimney stack by a qualified mason will bring back the vitality, beauty and longevity of your chimney system.

Chimney Repointing

Chimney repointing in Ottawa is a common first maintenance task in the life of your chimney. At this stage, only the mortar joints of the chimney are degrading away due to moisture and weathering. Repointing is done only if the bricks are still in good shape with no signs of cracking or water damage and the structural integrity of the chimney is sound.

Chimney repointing is a cost effective maintenance procedure that could add decades to the life of your chimney if done at the right time. When your mortar joints look like they are starting to erode, it is critical to get repointing work done as soon as possible as degraded mortar joints readily allow for water penetration. Water penetration combined with freeze thaw cycles can cause brickwork to begin spalling leading to much more expensive structural issues.

Repointing is the procedure of cutting back deteriorated mortar joints to a minimum of 25mm depth from the face of the brickwork and re-packing with new mortar. The new mortar must be mixed with the appropriate sand, cement and lime proportions based on the masonry units used to ensure the brickwork can still breath and allow moisture to escape readily.

Chimney ready for a rebuild: Damaged flue liner, spalling/cracked bricks.

Chimney Rebuild

Chimney Rebuilding comes towards the end of the life of a chimney stack. Typically a rebuild is required when there are signs of significant water damage, spalling brickwork, and risk to structural integrity.

Most chimney rebuilds we do in Ottawa are from the roofline up. This means that the brickwork is removed brick by brick down to your roof flashing and then built back up again to code height with new bricks, flue liners and mortar. In our harsh climate, oftentimes a well maintained chimney will have been repointed one or two times before it needs to be rebuilt.

Sometimes chimneys only need a few courses of brick rebuilt; however, in most cases it is highly recommended to rebuild from the roofline up to fully restore the chimney’s integrity. Taking the chimney stack down to the roofline, rebuilding from sound brickwork, ensures that your chimney will last for decades to come and add value and new beauty back to your home.

Bringing Value and Beauty Back to your Home

A deteriorated chimney can be a real eyesore and a potential hazard on your home and can lower its value in the event of selling your home. We strongly encourage all homeowners who are able to identify wear on their chimney to call a qualified mason to inspect its integrity and diagnose the best method to restore it. For more information on the Chimney Repair or Chimney Repointing Services at Kavanagh Masonry, please visit our Services Page or contact us on our Request a Quote Page.