The chimney is one of the major sources of roof leaks. Over time, crevices and cracks can occur on chimneys and that can cause leaks of water into the house. Flashing problems, cracked chimney crowns, damaged chimney caps, and ageing caulk, all these are potential for water leaks. If you leave the leaky chimney problems unattended, this will very costly and cause ceiling stains, drywall wrapping, interior home damage, and insulation saturation. Therefore, if you have a leaky roof, that is perhaps because of your damaged chimney. Whenever you find a roof leaking around the chimney, you should first check the condition. In this article, we will discuss five reasons why your roof might be leaking around the chimney.
Cracked Chimney Crown:
With time, weathering will create wear, shrinks, and cracks on the concrete crown of your chimney. First, small cracks occur and then water gets into the gap and freezes and expands the cracks. Whether you need to patch a crack up or seal it depends on the crack size. You may need to replace the masonry if there is critical structural damage.
Damage to Chimney Cap:
The cap of a chimney prevents snow and rain from entering your chimney. However, if your chimney cap gets damaged or cracked, water can penetrate it. This is why you need to check whether your chimney cap is in good condition or not. If you find any damage, you should replace the chimney cap to avoid a chimney roof leak.
Flashing Issues:
At the base of your chimney, manufacturers install flashing to seal the gap between the roofing materials and the bricks. An inaccurate installation of flashing or removal of caulking can result in a roof leak around the chimney. In this case, it is important to repair, reseal, or replace the flashing materials. If you want to avoid this scenario, you should hire an experienced roofing contractor for the installation of your chimney.
Faulty Chimney Liner:
In some rare cases, gas fumes can cause condensation to build up inside the chimney. This happens due to the development of holes around the chimney liner or improper fitting of the chimney liner. Because of the holes and gaps, gas fumes may cause the build-up of internal moisture. Later, this moisture soaks the building materials and bricks.
Leaky Bricks:
Water soaks into the mortar and bricks over time. Due to the absorption of a lot of moisture, some bricks can become softer. In winter, water freezes and expands and then again reshrinks, eventually causing water infiltration. Leaky bricks or damaged bricks are one of the major factors to cause water leaks. You should ask a professional roofing contractor to replace damaged or leaky roofs.
These are the main five reasons why your roof leaks because of your chimney. However, you may find roof leaks around the chimney, even though your chimney is in good condition. This is because you have roof leaks near the chimney, that have started to find their way to the chimney.
Never had this issue – so handy to know for future reference
Always interested in reading posts such as this one. No such thing as too much information for home owners and potential homeowners.
We had this issue!
Roofs can be so expensive, its interesting to see the reasons for leaking.
These tips are great to be aware of. We have a leak in our daughter’s room and we are trying to figure out why at the moment.