Worn Chimney Flashing Repaired Before It Got Worse

Chimney leaks are sneaky. The water doesn't always show up right where the problem is - it travels. By the time you notice a stain on your ceiling, the damage underneath has usually been building for a while. That's exactly what we ran into on this job.

The flashing around the base of the chimney had completely failed. The old material was cracked, peeling, and no longer doing anything useful. Once we pulled it back, we found what prolonged water intrusion does to roof decking - rotted wood, saturated underlayment, and a mess that would have kept getting worse every time it rained. That's the part homeowners don't see from the ground.

We stripped out the failed flashing and replaced the damaged decking before anything else went back on. Getting that structural layer solid is non-negotiable. From there, we installed new chimney flashing correctly - fitted tight to the brick and properly integrated with the surrounding shingles so water has nowhere to go except off the roof and into the gutters, the way it's supposed to.

Chimney flashing repair is one of those jobs that looks simple from a distance but has a lot of details that matter. The metal has to be cut and bent to follow the chimney's footprint, it has to be seated at the right depth against the masonry, and the step flashing along the sides has to work in sequence with the shingles. Skip any of that and you're back to square one after the next storm.

If you've got a water stain near your fireplace or you've been told you have a chimney leak, don't sit on it. The longer it goes, the more you're looking at - and what starts as a flashing repair can turn into a decking repair, an insulation problem, or worse. Get it looked at before it grows.