Chimney repair in Elk River, MN

What fails on chimneys this age

Cracked crowns, where the concrete on top splits and water runs into the joints below. Worn-out mortar above the roof, the one part of the chimney the house doesn't protect. Flashing that got fixed with tar. And on the 90s and 2000s houses with a sided chase, the flat metal cover on top can hold water until it rusts through.

Tar isn't flashing

Tar is a two-year fix that gets sold as a permanent one. It cracks and pulls away from the brick, and the leak comes back. Real flashing is metal, tucked into the brick, and that's what we put on.

Three kinds of houses in one town

The older neighborhoods near downtown and the river have brick chimneys that are fifty and sixty years old. The 90s and 2000s subdivisions are a mix of brick and factory-built fireplaces in framed chases. And almost one house in five went up in 2010 or later. Those newest chimneys shouldn't need repair yet, so the yearly look on them is about catching the first crack while it's small.

The houses that burn wood all winter

Elk River is the one town on our north metro list where the census count of homes heating mainly with wood is solid enough to lean on: about 119 homes, with a census margin of 56 either way. A stove that runs every day from October to April puts more creosote in the flue and more heat on the masonry than a fireplace lit on holidays. If yours is one of them, get the chimney looked at every year before the first cold snap.

88 days a winter that go both ways

The NOAA weather station in Elk River, about two miles from downtown, averaged 88 days a winter where the high got above freezing and the low dropped below it. That's over the last eight complete winters. On each of those days, water that soaked into a crack in the afternoon freezes at night. Ice takes more room than water, so the crack opens a little wider every time.

Thirty nights at zero or colder

The same station averaged 30 nights a winter at zero or below. A brick chimney venting a warm stove on a night like that has a hot inside face and a frozen outside face a few inches apart. That's a lot of strain on a crown, and it's how a hairline crack in November turns into a gap you could slide a coin into by March.

A long frost season on both ends

The first freeze there usually comes around October 10 and the last one around May 8. That's close to seven months when a wet chimney can freeze. If the crown or the flashing lets water in, it has most of the year to do damage before summer dries it out.

Chimney inspection in Elk River

On an older Elk River house we look at the crown, every mortar joint above the roofline, the flashing, and the clay tiles inside the flue with a camera. On a factory-built fireplace in a chase, it's the cap, the storm collar, the flashing and the metal flue pipe. If more than one thing vents into the chimney, the fireplace, a wood stove, the furnace, every flue gets looked at.

What our inspections turn up

We've completed 773 inspections since 2022, and 328 of them found something that needed a repair estimate. Reading back through the written scopes on brick chimneys, 189 of 234 included the crown and 162 included rebuilding brick above the roof. Those two are where a chimney usually starts to go, and they're the two you can't see from the driveway.

You get the pictures

Everything we find gets photographed and emailed to you with a written report. You're looking at your own chimney when you decide what to do about it.

Chimney sweep in Elk River

We don't sweep a chimney without inspecting it, so the sweep comes with the inspection. If the camera shows more than an eighth of an inch of buildup in a flue, that flue gets swept the same visit. Less than that and it doesn't need it, and we'll tell you so.

How often, if you burn wood

Once a year for anything you burn in. If you run a wood stove as your main heat, get the inspection done before the season starts, and call if the stove starts drafting poorly or you smell smoke in the middle of winter. Burning dry, seasoned wood keeps buildup down more than anything else you can do.

Signs the stove flue needs attention now

Black flakes in the firebox or on the roof, a stove that won't draw or puffs smoke when you open the door, a strong creosote smell in the room, or a roar in the pipe. That last one can be a chimney fire. Shut the stove's air down, get everybody out, and call 911. Then call us, because a flue that's had a fire needs an inspection before it's used again.