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Rebuilt brick chimney with a new cast crown and stainless cap in Baltimore, MD

Chimney Repair in Baltimore, MD

Your chimney is the most weather exposed masonry on the house. Rain hits it from all four sides, nothing above it sheds water, and it takes the full swing from hot flue gas inside to freezing air outside. In a city that logs about 45 inches of rain a year and 75 to 90 days below freezing, the chimney fails first.

For chimney repair, Baltimore MD homeowners usually call once the damage is visible from the sidewalk: mortar washing out above the roofline, a cracked crown, a leaning stack. Charm City Masonry brings decades of Baltimore masonry experience to chimney masonry, Baltimore City and Baltimore County alike.

Licensed, insured and bonded. Free estimates. Residential and commercial.

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01

Signs Your Chimney Needs Repair

Most chimney trouble is visible from the ground once you know what to look for, and catching it early is the difference between a repoint and a rebuild.

  • Mortar missing above the roofline. The most common failure and the easiest to spot from the ground.
  • A cracked or missing crown. The concrete cap on top of the stack. It should overhang the brick with a drip edge, and cracked crowns are the largest water entry point.
  • No cap over the flue. Rain, snow, birds and leaves drop straight down an open flue.
  • Rust on the damper or in the firebox. Water is coming down the flue.
  • White staining on the stack. Efflorescence: salts carried out of the masonry by water and left on the face. A moisture signal, not cosmetic.
  • Spalling brick. The face popping off in flakes, usually freeze and thaw plus mortar too hard for the brick.
  • A tilting or leaning stack. The crown or flashing failed years ago and mortar has been washing out since.
  • Damp on the ceiling around the chimney breast. More often the flashing than the chimney.
  • Damp patches on the breast upstairs. The stack is soaked through.
  • Debris in the firebox. Often pieces of the flue liner coming down.

Worth knowing: on a Baltimore rowhouse the chimney is frequently a party wall stack, one mass of masonry on the shared wall serving two houses or more. Damage does not stay on your side of it. A cracked crown can show up as a damp ceiling in your neighbor's back bedroom, and a real repair has to take in both halves of the stack.

Not sure what you are looking at? Send us a photo and we will tell you what it is. Call (410) 844-6510.

Eroded mortar joints on a Baltimore chimney above the roofline

02

Chimney Repair Services We Provide

The chimney repair services Baltimore homeowners need come down to five or six line items, and most stacks need two or three at once.

01

Chimney Repointing and Tuckpointing

Repointing means cutting failed mortar out of the joints to a sound depth and packing in fresh mortar. For chimney repointing, Baltimore stacks nearly always need the courses above the roofline first, since those joints weather fastest. You will also hear this called chimney tuckpointing. Baltimore masons use the two words interchangeably on repair work. What matters is the mix: we match mortar to the age of the stack, not to whatever is on the shelf. More in our guide to brick repointing and the mortar question.

02

Chimney Crown Repair

A crown is not a bag of mortar troweled flat across the brick, though that is what most failed crowns turn out to be. A proper crown is a sloped concrete cap with an overhang and a drip edge that throws water clear of the brick, plus an expansion joint around the flue tile. Most of the chimney crown repair Baltimore chimneys need is a full recast, not a patch.

03

Chimney Caps

A cap is a stainless or copper hood over the flue that keeps rain, snow, leaves and animals out and arrests sparks. Chimney cap installation, Baltimore chimneys with open clay tile flues especially, is the smallest job here with the largest return. Every inch of rain down an open flue ends up in the masonry.

04

Flashing Repair

Flashing is the metal sealing the joint between chimney and roof: step flashing woven into the shingle courses, counter flashing above it. Most chimney flashing repair Baltimore houses need comes from counter flashing caulked onto the face of the brick instead of cut into a mortar joint. Cut in properly, it lasts as long as the masonry.

05

Partial and Full Rebuilds

Repointing only works if the brick is still sound. When the faces have spalled through, the stack is out of plumb, or the top courses move by hand, the joints are past saving. Most of the chimney rebuild Baltimore work we do runs from the roofline up, which is where the weather does its damage. A rebuild from the shoulder or the ground is a larger job, and we will say so plainly. Chimney rebuilding, Baltimore MD row homes and county houses alike, is not just brick: salvaged or matched brick, then a new crown, cap and flashing so it does not start over.

06

Fireplace and Firebox Masonry

The chimney does not stop at the roof. Fireplace repair, Baltimore rowhouses in particular, often means rebuilding a firebox with refractory mortar, resetting a hearth, parging a smoke chamber so it draws, or replacing a rusted through damper. Ordinary mortar in a firebox fails fast under heat.

07

Chimney Waterproofing

Once a stack is repointed and crowned, a breathable siloxane based repellent sheds liquid water while still letting vapor pass out. That last part is the point. A film forming sealer traps moisture inside the stack, and in a climate this humid that means worse spalling, not less.

03

Why Chimneys Fail Faster Than the Rest of the House

A chimney is asked to do something no other masonry on your house has to do, which is why it wears out first.

Exposure on all four sides. Every other wall has a roof over it. A chimney is the roof.

Freeze and thaw right at the top. Baltimore runs 75 to 90 days a year below freezing, with January averaging 34 degrees and lows near 25. A climate that hovers at the freezing line and thaws every afternoon does more damage than one that stays hard frozen.

A thermal gradient nothing else sees. Hot flue gas on the inside face, freezing air on the outside. The joints take that strain.

The crown carries the whole load. Once it cracks, water runs down inside the stack and washes the mortar out from within. By the time it shows from the ground, years of damage have happened.

The wrong mortar, again. Chimneys get repointed with hard bagged mortar more than anything else on the house, because they are small jobs done fast. On a soft brick stack that mortar will not give, so trapped water gets forced through the brick and the faces spall off.

Disused chimneys are worse, not better. No warm flue gas drying the stack, and usually no cap. Almost every brick chimney repair, Baltimore or anywhere else, traces back to water and where it got in.

Cracked chimney crown allowing water into the masonry stack

04

Historic and Rowhouse Chimneys in Baltimore

Baltimore is a rowhouse city, with roughly 125,500 of its 251,000 occupied housing units attached to a neighbor, and that changes what a chimney repair is. Party wall and shared stacks are normal here: one mass of masonry sitting on the wall between two houses, often carrying flues from both. Repairing one side means understanding the other, and talking to the neighbor before anyone sets up staging.

Parapet and chimney combinations on older rows take the worst weather on the building. On pre 1900 stacks the mortar is lime, not cement, and it needs a lime based repoint to keep working. The bagged Type N and Type S mortars sold at every supply house sit far above what soft Baltimore brick tolerates; the historic scale runs down through Type K to a Type L mix with no cement at all. Chimney restoration, Baltimore historic districts especially, is a mortar decision first, and the full explanation is on our brick repair and repointing page.

This comes up constantly in Fells Point, Federal Hill, Canton, Bolton Hill, Hampden and Patterson Park.

Newly cast chimney crown with an overhang and drip edge on a Baltimore chimney

05

Chimney Repair Across Baltimore City and Baltimore County

We work both sides of the line, and chimneys are a large share of the schedule in each.

Chimney repair, Baltimore County. From the city line outward we are regularly in Dundalk, Catonsville, Owings Mills and Randallstown, where mid century brick houses are at the age where mortar, crowns and stoops give out at once.

Towson. The busiest of them for chimney work. Rodgers Forge, Stoneleigh and Anneslie are brick rowhouse and Tudor Revival neighborhoods where the chimney is prominent on the elevation. Most chimney repair Towson MD homeowners ask us about starts above the roofline. See our masonry and chimney work in Towson.

Pikesville. Chimney repair, Pikesville MD included, follows the county pattern: crown first, then joints, then flashing.

If the same winter took a toll lower down, we also handle steps, walkways and concrete and commercial chimney and smokestack work.

Stainless steel chimney cap installed over a clay flue tile

06

How to Choose a Chimney Contractor

Better questions get you better work. When you compare chimney repair companies, Baltimore homeowners get the most out of four of them.

Are you repointing or rebuilding, and why? A quote that says "repoint chimney" and nothing else is usually incomplete. The crown, the cap and the flashing are where water actually gets in.

What mortar mix, and why that one? Chimney repointing, Baltimore stacks built before 1900 in particular, calls for a lime rich mix that stays softer than the brick. Good chimney contractors, Baltimore or anywhere, can tell you what they are mixing and why.

Is the counter flashing cut into a joint or caulked to the face? Caulk is a short term fix sold as a permanent one.

Are you MHIC licensed? Maryland lists chimney repairs as licensable home improvement work, and only a licensed contractor can hold a home improvement contract with you. Hiring one also keeps you eligible for the state Guaranty Fund. Ask for the number, and read more about Charm City Masonry.

Counter-flashing cut into a mortar joint at a Baltimore chimney

07

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does chimney repair cost?
It depends on what is failing and how we reach it. Repointing, a crown, a cap and flashing are separate line items, and height and access drive the rest. The number comes from a free on site look.
Does homeowners insurance cover chimney repair?
Sometimes. Sudden damage from a covered peril, a storm or a chimney fire, may be covered. Gradual wear and deferred maintenance generally are not. Read your policy or ask your agent. We are not insurance advisers.
How do I know if my chimney needs rebuilding or just repointing?
If the brick is sound and only the joints have eroded, repoint it. If the faces have spalled through, the stack is out of plumb, or the top courses are loose, it needs a chimney rebuild. Baltimore stacks usually fail at the top first.
What is a chimney crown and why does it matter?
A sloped concrete cap on top of the stack, with an overhang, a drip edge and an expansion joint at the flue tile. Most water damage starts there, which is why chimney crown repair, Baltimore weather being what it is, lands on so many estimates.
Do I need a chimney cap?
If the flue is open, yes. Rain, snow, leaves and animals come down an uncapped flue and the moisture ends up in the masonry. Chimney cap installation, Baltimore chimneys with clay tile flues included, is quick work.
My ceiling is damp near the chimney, is that the chimney?
Usually the flashing rather than the stack, since it fails long before the brick does and water tracks in along the framing. Chimney flashing repair, Baltimore rowhouse and county roofs alike, is the first thing we check.
Can chimney repair be done in winter?
Repointing and rebuilds need above freezing conditions while the mortar cures. Caps and flashing work go year round. We would rather reschedule than lay a joint that fails by March.
How long does a chimney repair take?
Repointing above the roofline is usually a day or two. A rebuild from the roofline up is typically two to four days depending on height, access and weather.
How often should a chimney be inspected?
Annually for a chimney in regular use, and after any chimney fire or major storm. A disused stack still needs looking at, since no warm flue gas is drying it.
Do you repair fireplaces too?
Yes. Fireboxes, hearths, smoke chambers and dampers are all masonry work, and fireplace repair, Baltimore houses being what they are, often turns up a firebox laid in ordinary mortar rather than refractory.
Do you work in Baltimore County?
Yes, across the whole county. Towson, Pikesville, Dundalk, Catonsville, Owings Mills and Randallstown are all regular stops.
Can you match the brick on my chimney?
Usually, yes. We match on size, color and texture, and salvaged brick is often the closest match for a pre 1900 stack. If nothing matches exactly we will show you the nearest option.

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Send us a photo of the stack, or let us come look at it. We will tell you whether it is a repoint, a crown, a cap, flashing or a rebuild, and what it takes to put it right. Free estimates, clean jobsites, and we stand behind our work.

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