Expert: James Ball - 10/27/2011

Question
My wife and I bought a 20 year old home last year and recently we had a chimney professional out to clean the chimney. While cleaning he indicated that a few things should be done and took some photos of the chimney to illustrate. The damper and grate was rusty so it seemed evident that rain had been getting in - some mortar in the firebox also needed repair due to water damage. In addition, he recommended a new crown (old was cracked) and flue liner. He also recommended a roofer redo the flashing and some overhanging limbs be removed.

We had all of this work done and then we had heavy rains for a few days. At that point I noticed that there was rain leaking into the firebox. It only appears to be leaking down the inside front and dripping onto floor of firebox.

I had the chimney guy come back out and put a new cap on and remove the old damper. I also asked him to look at the flashing that the roofer had done - he said it looked OK. It rained again and we still had the same problem.

So I had the roofer come back out to inspect his own work and also the work of the chimney guy to see if there was anything that looked like a problem. He indicated that everything looked fine.

It rained again last night and of course it is still leaking. So now the roofer and the chimney guy stand by their own work and claim that it is something that the other person did or did not do correctly. I don't want to pay a 3rd person to come out and look at it. I just want it fixed.

By process of elimination I would like to determine what the most likely cause of the problem is so that the correct person fixes it. How likely is bad flashing to cause a leak inside of the firebox? It seems more likely that it is a chimney issue.

This is really frustrating.

Answer
Hello Phil, water getting in can be very hard to find unless you know how to find it and that is very simple, what needs to be done is a water test, after a few dry days some one needs to run a hose on the chimney start at the bottom, and from one side and only do a 2' foot section at a time and and run the hose for about 3 minutes, then move it (2' sections at a time) all the way from one side to the other , then move the hose up the chimney 2' and repeat until you re create the leak/drip, when you do stop the water for 10 minutes (or till it stops dripping) then look in the last area for some thing that stands out and hit it again till it starts to drip again, when you find the area you can fix what you find (maybe silicone) after the silicone drys (a day or two) then continue to do this to the top of the chimney you might find another leak
so start low, go from side to side (hit were the house meets the siding and roof and crown) all the way till you get a drip, then that is the area you need to look at to fix.
James