Chimney Repair & Masonry in Dunwoody, GA

Chimney Repair & Masonry for Dunwoody Homeowners

Dunwoody's housing is dominated by two-storey building from the 1970s and 1980s, and the height changes the physics. A tall flue in a well-sealed house frequently has a draft problem rather than a dirt problem: the chimney is competing with kitchen and bathroom extraction in a house tight enough that air cannot easily replace what is being drawn out, and the fireplace loses. Homeowners read that as a dirty chimney and book a sweep, which sometimes helps and sometimes does not touch the real cause. We would rather diagnose it properly than clean a flue that was not the problem.

Tall two-storey 1970s-1980s flues in relatively tight houses; negative pressure and draft competition are as common as creosote.

Almost every chimney failure in this part of Georgia is a water story. The crown — the concrete slab across the top — is the stack's roof, and when it cracks, rain runs straight into the masonry core instead of off it. From there the freeze-thaw cycles we get in January do the rest: water in the brick expands, and the face of the brick shears off in flakes. That is spalling, and once it starts it accelerates, because every flake exposes more absorbent surface. A crown recast while the cracks are hairline is a routine job. The same chimney left four winters is a rebuild from the roofline up, at several times the cost.