Cottonwood Heights · Salt Lake County
Crowns, Joints and Water in Cottonwood Heights
Almost every masonry repair we do on this bench traces back to water, and the reason there is more of it up here than downhill is that snow behaves differently from rain.
Snow sits where rain runs off
Rain hits a chimney crown and leaves within seconds. Snow lands on it and stays, sometimes for weeks, melting slowly against a surface that is being warmed from below by the flue and chilled from above by the air. That is a saturated crown going through a freeze-thaw cycle every single day of the storm's aftermath rather than once. The bench gets meaningfully more snow than the valley floor, and it holds it longer, so chimneys here accumulate that damage faster than identical chimneys a few miles west.
The north face is always worse
Walk around a bench chimney and you will usually find one face in far worse condition than the others. It faces north or northeast, it never gets direct winter sun, and it stays frozen and wet through the whole cold season while the south face thaws each afternoon. That asymmetry is diagnostic. When we quote repointing, we are often quoting one or two elevations rather than the whole stack, and telling you that honestly is part of the job.
Mortar, and why the wrong mix destroys brick
Repointing is straightforward work done correctly and destructive done carelessly. The joint is supposed to be the sacrificial element: softer than the brick, so that when the assembly moves, the mortar takes the damage and can be replaced. A hard modern mix reverses that relationship. The joint becomes stronger than the brick, and the next freeze pushes the face off the brick instead. We match mortar to the masonry rather than to a bag on the truck, and on older bench chimneys that usually means a softer mix than a general contractor would default to.
Flashing and the parts that are not masonry
Where the chimney passes through the roof, the waterproofing is a two-part metal system: step flashing woven into the shingle courses and counterflashing let into a cut in the masonry joint. Done that way it lasts decades. Done with a bead of sealant smeared over the junction, which is what we find on a lot of past repairs, it lasts a few winters and then leaks in a way that looks exactly like a roof problem. If you have a stain on the ceiling near the chimney and a roofer has already told you the shingles are fine, this is very often the answer.
Questions
Chimney Repair in Cottonwood Heights — common questions
White chalky staining has appeared on our brick. What is it?
Efflorescence, which is mineral salt carried to the surface by water moving through the masonry and left behind as it evaporates. It is not damaging in itself, but it is direct evidence that water is getting into the chimney, and that is worth tracing.
Can masonry repair be done in winter?
Small emergency work sometimes, but mortar needs temperatures above freezing to cure properly and Cottonwood Heights holds cold longer than the valley. Repointing and crown work are spring-to-autumn jobs, and scheduling them then produces a better result.
Our chimney leans slightly. Is that dangerous?
It should be assessed rather than watched. A lean usually means water has degraded mortar on one side, or the footing has moved, and either way the stack is no longer carrying load the way it was built to. We will tell you whether it is a repair or a rebuild.
Should the chimney be repointed or sealed first?
Repointed first, always. Sealing over failed joints locks moisture into the wall and accelerates the damage. Once the joints are sound, a breathable water repellent is worth applying, particularly on the north-facing elevations that stay wet longest.
Also in Cottonwood Heights
Our other services here
Chimney Sweep Inspection Fireplace Repair Installation Gas Fireplace Caps & Dampers Dryer Vents All Cottonwood Heights services
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