With some cooler weather moving in for the weekend, I know that Houstonians will be lighting their fireplaces to stay warm overnight. With the cold weather we’ve been having this winter, I am sure that those fireplaces are getting quite the workout! It’s also the season that I’ll be getting calls about leaky chimneys. In fact, The Weather Channel is calling for some rain to begin to fall next Tuesday and continue on past Thursday.
If you think that you might have a leaky chimney and if you’d like to try to see if you can figure out where the leak is coming from, here are a couple of tips. Please don’t go up on your roof if you don’t feel comfortable. The worst thing that can happen is that you climb up on your roof and fall off and break an arm! Use your best judgement
1. Check out the perimeter of the chimney on a dry,sunny day, checking for loose mortar joints and cracked brick.
2. Pulling out a garden hose and spraying the roof will show your partner who is in the the house, the location of the leaks.
3.If everything looks okay, your chimney flashing might be the source of the problem.
Chimney flashing are the sheets of metal that can be found at the base of the chimney. Examine the flashing looking for overlapping metal, damaged and worn flashing. Some of it can be repaired by visiting your local home renovations store. But if you feel that it might be a bigger problem than you thought that’s when you give us a call, your Houston chimney and fireplace specialist.
