Chimney & Flashing Repair in Rahway, NJ

Old chimneys, tired flashing

Plenty of Rahway homes still have their original brick chimneys. Decades of freeze-thaw winters wear down the mortar, and the metal flashing at the base gets bent, rusted or pulled loose. Often it's been "fixed" over the years with layer after layer of black tar, which cracks and lets water in again within a season or two. Older homes often have more than one chimney - see roofs on Rahway's older homes.

Signs the chimney is the problem

• Stains on the ceiling or wall right next to the chimney
• Damp or white-stained brick inside the attic
• Thick tar or caulk smeared around the base of the chimney
• Crumbling mortar joints, loose bricks or a cracked crown on top
• Water in the firebox or around the fireplace

How it should be built

A chimney that's flashed properly has step flashing - small L-shaped pieces woven in with each row of shingles up the sides - covered by counter-flashing that's set into a cut in the mortar and folds down over it. Wider chimneys should also have a small peaked cricket on the uphill side so water and snow are steered around the chimney instead of piling up behind it.

A good repair removes the old metal and tar, repoints the mortar where the counter-flashing sits, installs new flashing and replaces the shingles around it.

It might not be the flashing

Water can also come in from the top of the chimney - through a cracked crown, a missing cap or porous brick - and run down inside. A roofer can tell you whether it's a flashing job, a masonry job or both.

Other flashing that leaks

• Pipe boots around plumbing vents crack after 10-15 years
• Skylights usually leak at the flashing, not the glass
• Wall joints where a lower roof meets a second-story wall
• Valleys where two slopes carry water into one channel