Rebuilding a Chimney

Wisconsin Weather can wreak havoc on a masonry chimney. With our fall and spring freeze-thaw cycles, the chimney begins to deteriorate. Once this process begins it quickly snowballs out of control. A crack in the crown (topmost section of the chimney) starts to allow water into the chimney. Then that is what begins to soak into the softer interior of the brick. As this water freezes, it begins to expand which leads to brick and mortar cracks as well as brick spalling. Most of this damage goes unnoticed until it is too late and the chimney needs major repairs.

Rebuilding a masonry chimney is a very physically intensive and time-consuming project. We must first get the work areas covered in tarps and prepped for the demolition process. If the chimney is too tale or in an area too dangerous to access, we will have to set up safety equipment and work platforms. Once the area is safe to work on, we can start the demolition process.

We use heavy-duty demolition tools and lots of buckets to dismantle the chimney and get the debris to the ground. Once all debris is safe to the ground, we will then haul it all away from the premises. The process of rebuilding the chimney begins by finding the best brick and mortar match that is currently available, once we’ve gotten the green light on the match, we pick up all the necessary materials and bring them to the site. Our masons are very skilled in restoration and will bring the chimney back to its original look (so long as the original design was not the reason for the failure).

After the rebuild is finished we will set forms around the top of the chimney and pour a concrete crown that surpasses current Wisconsin minimum code requirements, with a 2” overhang and 5” thick of solid concrete. After a few days have passed we will come back and remove the forms and get everything sealed up.