Chimney crowns
The sloped cap on top of the brick. A cracked crown sends water straight down into the stack. New crowns get an overhang and a drip edge so water falls clear of the brick.
Chimney masonry
Chimney Repairs and Rebuilds
Chimney repairs and rebuilds from the roof line up. New crowns, caps and flashing, spalled brick cut out and replaced, and tired joints repointed before the water reaches the ceiling. When a chimney is past repair, we take it down to sound brick and rebuild it.
5.0
15 Google reviews
20+
Years laying brick and stone
Insured
Liability and WSIB coverage
Free
On-site estimates across Southern Ontario
Warning signs
Signs your chimney needs repair.
A chimney is the most exposed masonry on a house. It stands above the roof with weather on every side, heats and cools with the flue, and is the hardest part of the house to look at up close. Most chimney problems are first noticed from inside, as a stain on a ceiling.
- Spalling brick. Brick faces popping off, with pieces landing on the roof or in the eavestrough.
- Missing or crumbling mortar. Joints you can see daylight through or scratch out with a key.
- A cracked crown. The concrete or mortar cap on top of the stack, cracked or breaking up.
- Leaks and stains. Water marks on the ceiling or wall beside the chimney, or white efflorescence on the brick.
- Loose top courses. Bricks moving or leaning at the top of the stack.
- Failed flashing. Lifted, rusted or tarred over metal where the chimney meets the roof.
Repair or rebuild
Chimney repair, or a full chimney rebuild?
If the brick is sound and the damage is in the joints, the crown or the flashing, a repair is the right call. We repoint the joints with matched mortar, replace a cracked crown, fit a new cap and redo the flashing so it sheds water properly.
A rebuild makes sense once the brick itself is failing. When faces are spalling across many courses, the top of the stack is loose or leaning, or water has been getting in for years, we take the chimney down to sound brick, often at or near the roof line, and rebuild it with new brick, a new crown and new flashing.
We tell you which one your chimney needs on the walkthrough and explain why, so you are not paying for a rebuild a repair would have handled.
What we fix
Chimney crowns, caps, flashing and brick.
Chimney caps
A cap over the flue keeps rain, snow, birds and animals out. We fit one when a crown is replaced, or where there never was one.
Chimney flashing
The metal where the chimney passes through the roof, stepped and set into the mortar joints rather than tarred on. Many chimney leaks start here.
Spalled brick replacement
Damaged brick cut out and replaced one unit at a time, with brick matched to the rest of the stack.
Chimney repointing
Failed mortar raked out and replaced with a mix matched for colour, texture and hardness. How we do it is on our tuckpointing page.
Full chimney rebuilds
Taken down to sound brick and rebuilt from there, sometimes from the roof line and sometimes lower, with a new crown, cap and flashing.
Why they fail
What an Ontario winter does to a chimney.
Brick and mortar hold a little water. When that water freezes it expands, and when it thaws, the gap it opened fills with more water. A chimney goes through that cycle over and over between fall and spring, on all four sides at once, and a stack without a proper crown or flashing takes water in every time.
That is why the top few courses of a chimney usually go first. They are the most exposed, they sit in snow on the roof for weeks at a time, and they are the first thing water reaches when the crown cracks.
Chimney work is done from roof brackets or scaffold with fall protection, and we plan it for dry weather so the mortar can cure. On a steep or high roof the access is a real part of the job, and it is priced that way.
Cost
What chimney repair costs.
Chimney work is priced by what the chimney needs and how hard it is to reach. A new crown or flashing on a low roof is a small job. A full rebuild of a tall stack on a steep two storey roof is a large one.
- Scope. Crown, cap or flashing only, spot repointing, or a rebuild, and how far down the brick has to come.
- Height and roof pitch. Whether roof brackets are enough or scaffold is needed.
- Size of the stack. Its width and the number of flues running through it.
- Brick. Matching an older brick on a partial rebuild takes more sourcing than new brick.
Every chimney quote is a fixed written price after we have looked at it, with the start window and the expected duration written in.
How it runs
A chimney job, step by step.
01
Inspection
We look at the crown, flashing, brick and joints, and at any staining inside, to find where water is getting in.
02
Written quote
Repair or rebuild, and why, with a fixed price and a start window in writing.
03
Repair
Roof protected, access set up, then the brick, crown, cap and flashing work, done in dry weather.
04
Clean up
Debris off the roof and out of the eavestroughs, the ground cleaned below, and the finished work shown to you.
Where we work
Chimney repair across Southern Ontario.
We repair and rebuild chimneys right across Southern Ontario. Three areas keep us on roofs the most.
Barrie
Barrie has a lot of older brick chimneys on century homes in Allandale and around the downtown, many of them no longer venting anything and quietly taking on water. The city averages over two metres of snow a year, and a chimney sits in that snow for months, so crowns and flashing are where we see most of the damage.
Masonry in BarrieNewmarket and Aurora
Chimney work in these two towns splits between older brick homes near the historic main streets and newer houses whose decorative chimneys never got a proper crown. Inside a heritage conservation district, check with the town before a chimney is altered, and either way we match the brick and mortar to the original.
Masonry in Newmarket and AuroraCollingwood
Collingwood chimneys take the full force of snow belt weather off Georgian Bay, and some serve homes that are empty for part of the winter, so a leak can run for weeks before anyone sees it. We rebuild tops, replace crowns and flashing, and repoint stacks before the next season.
Masonry in CollingwoodWe also repair chimneys in
- Angus
- Bolton
- Bradford
- Coldwater
- Innisfil
- King
- Midhurst
- Midland
- New Tecumseth
- Orillia
- Schomberg
- Stayner
- Vaughan
- Wasaga Beach
Questions
Chimney repair questions.
Repair it if the brick is sound and the problem is the joints, the crown or the flashing. Rebuild it when the brick itself is spalling across many courses, the top is loose or leaning, or water has been getting in for years. A repair on a stack that is failing only buys a season or two.
The usual causes are failed flashing where the chimney meets the roof, a cracked or missing crown, no cap over the flue, and open mortar joints letting water soak into the brick. A leak is often two of those at once, so we check all of them rather than sealing one and hoping.
It depends on the size of the stack, the height and pitch of the roof, and whether anything else needs doing while access is set up. Crown and flashing work is at the smaller end of chimney jobs. We quote it as a fixed written price after looking at it.
It depends on the scope and your municipality. Towns treat like for like repairs differently from rebuilding or altering a chimney, and designated heritage properties have their own rules. We confirm with your town before work starts.
Small repairs can go ahead on suitable days with cold weather mortar and protection. Full rebuilds are best booked from spring through fall, when mortar can cure properly and the roof is safe to work on.
Yes. We work on masonry and stone fireplaces as well as the chimneys above them, and interior fireplace work can carry on through the winter.
More services
Other masonry we build.
Free on-site estimates
Tell us what you are building.
Call or send a few details. We come out, measure, and put a fixed price and a start window in writing. Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.