Hi ya’ll.
John from Just-Contractors.com here.
I got a question in our forum for a roofing expert:
Leaky roof and/or chimney?
I purchased my house in October 2000. Since this time the roof and/or chimney have leaked repeatedly. The chimney is a metal prefab pipe-only deal.
The first roofer attempted to repair the leak twice. First by replacing some shingles and then he claimed he replaced the flashing.
The second roofer found that there was no tar paper around the chimney and put a new layer down over the blank spot and re-shingled. The area remained leak proof for six months.
The third time I chewed out the builder who sent out someone who took the collar off the chimney and replaced it with some shiney stuff stuck to the chimney.
(For the record the builder called after this was “fixed” and told me to never call again.)
That held until this past week, when I came home and heard a distinct dripping sound on the metal firebox (I didn’t see any water anywhere).
Yesterday a chimney sweep looked at it and said the problem was that the collar had been removed. He put a new collar around the builder’s “stuff” and used a clear silicone caulk all around the “stuff” and the new collar.
For some odd reason I think it will leak again. I can’t think of what the next logical step would be, besides demolishing the house.
Thanks for your reply in advance.
And if you experts ever want to share your wisdom with us at Just-Contractors.com, we’d be more than grateful!
Replies
While you went on with descriptions of shingle repairs, I sat here wondering where your water signs were. You finally answered with a tale of dripping down the pipe, hitting the box which is what I anticipated. Many times, chimneys like this leak within from condesation and rain blowing into the rain cap on top too.
Is it fixed yet? Permanently?
Possibly not. Thje only thing stopping penetration is the caulking at the collar. Silicone is one we gave up on decades ago for metal roof products. It becomes brittle eventually and metal does a lot of moving with temp changes. I can't think of a piece of metal on your house that will move more than that chimney, unless maybe the first run of pipe from the boiler or furnace.
I use Geocell caulk for an application like this now. You could up your odds by doubling the collar, placing another above this one embedded in new caulk.
And I would consider having my lawyer write the builder a powerful letter, unless you have been fiddling with something along the way.