A windstorm rolls through Scranton overnight. The next morning a homeowner walks outside, looks up, and sees a chunk of their chimney crown on the roof shingles. Lightning cracked a chimney in Wilkes-Barre last summer. An ice dam pulled half the flashing off a home in the Poconos. Every year, NEPA weather damages chimneys in […]
Read More… from Insurance Claims for Chimney Damage: What NEPA Homeowners Need to Know
Try searching for “how much does chimney work cost” and you’ll mostly find vague answers, evasive ranges so wide they’re useless, and pages full of “it depends — call us for a quote.” That’s not particularly helpful for a homeowner trying to plan a budget, compare estimates, or just figure out whether the quote in […]
Read More… from Chimney Maintenance Costs: What NEPA Homeowners Should Budget
Northeastern Pennsylvania is full of old houses. The coal-region row homes in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Plymouth, and Olyphant. The farmhouses scattered across rural Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Monroe counties. The early 20th-century homes in the Poconos and the Endless Mountains. A significant share of NEPA’s housing stock predates 1950 — and a meaningful portion predates […]
Read More… from Why Older NEPA Homes Need Special Attention for Chimney Care
A common phone call goes like this. A homeowner notices a water stain on the ceiling, calls a chimney company, and gets told the flashing needs replacement. They call a roofer instead and get told the chimney is leaking. Neither one wants to be responsible for the part of the job that belongs to the […]
Read More… from Why Chimney Damage Often Means Roof Damage Too
Every season we get calls from homeowners who’ve finally taken a hard look at their chimney and realized the situation is worse than they thought. The mortar has gone, bricks are loose or shifted, the crown is failing, and the whole structure looks tired in a way that’s hard to ignore. The question they’re asking […]
Read More… from Chimney Repair vs. Rebuild: How to Know When It’s Time
If you ask any experienced chimney professional what causes most of the chimney damage they see, the answer is the same every time: water. Not fire, not heat, not normal wear — water. It’s the single biggest threat to any masonry chimney, and in northeastern Pennsylvania’s climate it’s responsible for the overwhelming majority of repair […]
Read More… from How Chimney Water Damage Works (and How to Stop It)
A smelly fireplace is one of the most common complaints we hear from NEPA homeowners — and one of the most misunderstood. People often assume the smell is just something they have to live with, or they try to mask it with air fresheners and candles. But a chimney odor is almost always your chimney […]
Read More… from Chimney Odors: Why Your Fireplace Smells and What to Do About It
If you’ve never had your chimney professionally serviced, scheduling that first appointment can feel like a small leap of faith. You’re inviting someone into your home to work on a part of the house you can’t really see, doing things you may not fully understand, and you’re not sure what’s going to happen, how long […]
Read More… from What to Expect During Your First Chimney Service Visit
When a homeowner calls us about a chimney leak — water stains on the ceiling, dampness in the attic, drips near the fireplace during heavy rain — the culprit is, more often than not, the flashing. It’s the single most common source of chimney-related water intrusion, and it sits in the one place on the […]
Read More… from Chimney Flashing: Where Your Roof and Chimney Meet (and Leak)
Ask most homeowners to point to their chimney crown and they’ll point to the wrong thing. They’ll point to the cap (the metal cover over the flue) or to the chimney itself. The crown is the part almost nobody knows by name — which is unfortunate, because it’s one of the most important parts of […]
Read More… from Understanding Chimney Crowns: The Most Overlooked Part of Your Chimney
