Chimney Repair & Masonry in Sandy Springs, GA

Chimney Repair & Masonry for Sandy Springs Homeowners

Sandy Springs is where our work shifts from masonry to metal. A great deal of the housing here went up between the 1960s and the 1990s, and much of it uses factory-built fireplaces venting through a framed chase with a metal chase cover on top, rather than a solid brick stack. Those systems fail differently: the chase cover rusts through and pours water into the chase where nobody can see it, the metal flue sections corrode at the joints, and the whole assembly has a service life rather than lasting indefinitely like brick. Homeowners who have only ever owned masonry chimneys are often surprised that a prefab needs replacing at all.

1960s-1990s housing with a high proportion of factory-built fireplaces in framed chases; rusted chase covers and corroded metal flue sections are the recurring faults.

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.