I’m a chimney tech, and I do the masonry repair work myself, up on the roof, on homes all through Irwin and the Norwin area. Most of the chimneys I climb here were built mid-century, back when these brick neighborhoods off Route 30 went up, and that original masonry is exactly the age where it starts giving out. If your chimney is shedding brick, staining the ceiling, or just hasn’t been looked at in a long time, I’ll get up there and tell you straight what it needs.
☎ Call (412) 440-5871 Get a Free Estimate
The Chimney Repairs I Do Most in Irwin
A lot of Irwin and North Huntingdon is mid-century brick, and the repairs I run into here keep coming back to the same handful of failures. This is the work I do on these chimneys week in and week out:
- Crown rebuilds and crown sealing. The crown is the concrete slab on top, and on these older chimneys it is usually cracked, thin, or poured flat with no slope. If it is sound I clean and waterproof it. If it has broken up, I form and pour a new one with an overhang so rain gets thrown clear of the brick instead of running down the face.
- Tuckpointing and repointing. When the mortar joints have washed out and gone soft, I grind them out and pack in fresh mortar matched to your brick. That is what stops water from working its way into the wall in the first place.
- Brick replacement. Spalled brick, the kind where the face has popped or flaked off, gets cut out and replaced, and I rebuild the top courses when they have shifted or come loose.
- Dampers and caps. A top-mount damper seals the flue from the top to keep rain, animals, and downdrafts out, and opens with a cable when you want a fire. A solid cap does the same job over the flue opening. I install both, like the damper on the job below.
- Waterproofing. Once the masonry is sound, a breathable sealer on the brick and crown keeps the next round of freeze-thaw from starting the whole cycle over again.
- Liner and flue work. Plenty of homes around here were built on coal heat and later switched over to gas or oil. That often leaves an oversized or deteriorating flue that no longer matches the appliance venting into it, and I sort out relining so the chimney drafts the way it should.
A Crown Coat and Damper Job I Did in Irwin
The photos on this page are from a recent job right here in Irwin. The crown on top was weathered and letting water soak into the masonry, so I sealed it with a waterproof crown coat, the fresh white surface you can see in both shots, so it sheds rain again. I also set a new top-mount damper on the flue. It seals the chimney from the top when it is closed, which keeps rain, animals, and downdrafts out, and it opens with a cable when you want a fire. Same chimney, just sealed up top and shedding water again.
Why Chimneys Fail Around Here
Two things gang up on the chimneys in this part of Westmoreland County. The first is age. Most of the masonry was laid mid-century and the crowns, joints, and liners have simply reached the end of their service life. The second is our winters. Water soaks into a cracked crown or an open mortar joint, freezes hard overnight, expands, and pries the masonry apart a little more with every cold snap. Do that for forty or fifty winters and a hairline crack turns into spalled brick and a crumbling top. The older coal-era flues add a third wrinkle: when a house was converted off coal to a modern gas or oil appliance, the flue left behind is often too big or too worn to vent safely, so the liner needs attention along with the brickwork.
What an Inspection and Repair Visit Looks Like
When you call, I come out and actually get up on the chimney rather than guessing from the ground. I look at the crown, the brick and mortar joints, the flashing at the roofline, and the flue and liner inside. Then I show you what I found and give you a straight, written estimate covering only what the chimney needs, not whatever runs up the biggest bill. If it is a repair I can knock out the same visit, I often will. Bigger rebuilds get scheduled, and the estimate is free either way. You can see the full rundown of how I approach this work on my chimney repair service page, and I broke down a crown repair start to finish in this before-and-after on a crown rebuild.
I serve Irwin, North Huntingdon, the rest of the Norwin area, and across Westmoreland County and the greater Pittsburgh region. If your chimney needs a look before another winter, give me a call.