When Tuckpointing Will Not Save It
A homeowner in a 1970s brick home in East Arlington, a few streets from Globe Life Field, called after a spring hail storm because the cap was in the yard and a corner of the chimney had gone with it. From the roof, the top six courses were loose enough to lift by hand. There was no mortar left to repoint. That chimney needed a chimney rebuild in Arlington, TX, from the roof line up, and it is the kind of job our crew has done on Arlington homes for more than 20 years.
Crownline Chimney Sweep rebuilds brick chimneys across Arlington. Most are partial rebuilds, taking the stack above the roof down to sound brick and building it back with matching brick, new flue tiles, a poured concrete crown, new flashing and a stainless cap. A few are full rebuilds from the ground. We tell you which one you need with photos, the estimate is free, and the price is in writing before a brick comes down.
Chimney Rebuild vs Chimney Repair in Arlington: How to Tell
Not every damaged chimney needs rebuilding, and we do not sell rebuilds to chimneys that need pointing. Here is how we sort it on the roof:
| What we see | The fix |
|---|---|
| Mortar joints recessed or sandy, bricks solid and straight | Chimney tuckpointing |
| Cracked or missing crown, brick below it fine | Chimney crown repair |
| A few spalled bricks, rest sound | Brick replacement with tuckpointing |
| More than about a third of the bricks above the roof loose, cracked or spalled | Partial rebuild |
| Stack leaning, top courses shifted, cap gone with the brick | Partial rebuild |
| Whole chimney leaning, cracked footing, loose brick below the roof | Full rebuild |
The deciding factor is the brick, not the mortar. Once bricks are cracked through, spalled across a whole section, or moving, new mortar has nothing solid to hold.
Why Arlington Chimneys End Up Needing a Rebuild
Three things cause the chimney damage that takes a brick chimney apart in North Texas, and most rebuilds involve all of them:
- Water. A cracked crown or missing cap lets rain into the top of the chimney. The joints wash out, the brick soaks up water, and the faces spall. Twenty years of that and the top courses are rubble held together by habit.
- Hail and wind. Tarrant County hail season runs March through June. Hail cracks crowns and chips brick, and straight-line wind takes the cap and sometimes the top of a weakened stack with it.
- Clay soil. The soil under Arlington swells and shrinks with the seasons. The chimney rides on it. On older homes with a small footing, that movement cracks the chimney through or starts it leaning.
Texas weather and Texas storms do the rest. The brick chimneys on 1950s to 1980s homes around UTA, Fielder Park, Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens and East Arlington are the ones we rebuild most. They are 40 to 70 years old, many have never had the crown fixed, and the original flue tiles are often cracked too.
Signs Your Chimney Needs to Be Rebuilt
- The stack above the roof is leaning or the top courses have shifted.
- Bricks are loose enough to move by hand, or bricks are on the roof or the ground.
- Whole sections of brick have spalled faces, not just one or two.
- Cracks run through the brick, not just the mortar.
- The crown is gone or broken into pieces.
- A hail or wind storm took the cap off and brick with it.
- Flue tile pieces in the firebox along with the brick problems above.
A leaning chimney is a safety problem, not just a repair, and a homeowner should treat it that way. Keep people and cars away from the side of the house below it and call us.
The Repair Process for a Partial Rebuild: From the Roof Line Up
This is the chimney rebuild most Arlington homes need. The section above the roof takes all the weather, and the chimney below the roof is usually protected and sound.
- Inspection with photos. From the roof and inside, including a camera look at the flue tiles. You see what is loose and what is sound.
- Written scope and price. How many courses come down, what goes back, and every line item: brick, mortar, flue tiles or liner, crown, flashing, cap. Free.
- Tear-down. The damaged brick comes off to sound masonry, often at or just above the flashing. Debris goes down in buckets, not off the roof.
- Rebuild. New brick matched to the house in size, color and texture, laid in matching mortar, course by course, with new clay flue tiles set as the stack goes up.
- Crown. A poured concrete crown with a slope, an overhang and an expansion gap around the flue.
- Flashing and cap. New step and counter flashing where the chimney meets the roof, and a new stainless cap.
- Cure, check, photograph. After the mortar cures, we check the flue with a camera, coat the crown, and send you the photos.
A single-flue partial rebuild is usually two to three days.
Full Rebuild: From the Ground or the Firebox Up
A full rebuild is rare. It is for a chimney that is leaning from the ground, has a cracked or sinking footing, or has loose brick below the roof line. The chimney comes down to the footing or to the firebox, the footing is repaired or replaced, and the chimney is rebuilt in full with a new flue. If the flue needs a stainless liner instead of clay tiles, for example for a wood insert, we install it as part of the job. See chimney liner installation. A full rebuild can take a week or more, and we schedule it in dry weather.
What a Chimney Rebuild Costs in Arlington
No Arlington chimney company we found publishes a rebuild price. The typical range from national cost guides: Bob Vila’s chimney repair cost guide lists chimney stack repair, the section above the roof, at $500 to $3,500 and an average chimney rebuild at $500 to $4,000. A full rebuild from the ground is priced per job and runs higher than that. Brown Chimney, a DFW company, prices crown rebuilds by the crown’s size starting at length times width plus $1,500, which gives a feel for the crown portion alone.
What moves the price on your chimney:
| Factor | Lower cost | Higher cost |
|---|---|---|
| How much comes down | Top few courses | Whole stack above the roof, or full chimney |
| Chimney size | Single flue, narrow | Two or three flues, wide |
| Flue | Tiles sound below the tear-down | New tiles full height, or a stainless liner |
| Roof access | One story, walkable | Two stories, steep, scaffold needed |
| Brick match | Common brick available | Discontinued brick, special order |
Crownline inspects first and quotes in writing after. Estimates are free, seniors, veterans and first responders get 10% off, and we match a written quote from an insured company for the same scope. One discount per job.
Storm Damage and Insurance
Spring storm damage is the one time a chimney rebuild is often an insurance job. Hail that breaks the crown and top courses, or wind that takes the stack down, is sudden damage, and insurers treat it differently from slow decay. The difference is proof, and the proof is photos from the roof taken before anyone patches anything. Our inspection report is formatted the way adjusters ask for, with dated photos of every side. The Texas Department of Insurance explains how storm claims work in Texas. Call your agent, then call us for the inspection, and do it before a roofer caulks over the damage.
Why Arlington Homeowners Call Crownline for a Chimney Rebuild
Crownline Chimney Sweep is a local, professional chimney company offering fireplace and chimney services in Arlington from 700 Highlander Blvd near the Parks Mall and I-20, not a lead site with a rented suite. Our crew has worked on Arlington brick chimneys for more than 20 years, which means we have taken down and rebuilt a lot of the stacks in the neighborhoods above. We are insured and bonded, which matters on a job that puts a crew, a grinder and a few hundred bricks on your roof.
On a rebuild with us you get a technician who gives an honest call on partial versus full with photos to back it, a free estimate and a written line-item price, matching brick and mortar, a real concrete crown and new flashing and cap included, and the flue checked with a camera when the mortar has cured. That is the proof behind calling ourselves the best chimney company in Arlington, and why we are becoming the local chimney company Arlington homeowners trust.
Where We Rebuild Chimneys Near Arlington
Crownline rebuilds chimneys across Arlington TX: ZIP codes 76001, 76006, 76010, 76012, 76013, 76016, 76017 and 76018, from the brick homes near UTA and East Arlington near AT&T Stadium to South Arlington, near Lake Arlington, North Arlington, Viridian, Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens, and the Fort Worth side of DFW. A leaning stack is the one emergency chimney repair we move to the front of the schedule, because a chimney that is moving is a safety problem for the people below it.
A rebuild touches every other part of the system, so the written estimate often includes chimney leak repair and flashing at the roof line, chimney waterproofing once the mortar cures, a new chimney cap, and sometimes damper repair or firebox repair inside, since the same water that took the stack apart rusts the damper and cracks the firebox. If the fireplace is being replaced at the same time, our fireplace installation and gas fireplace repair pages cover that side. After the rebuild, a yearly chimney cleaning is the chimney care that keeps soot and creosote out of the new flue, for safety and efficiency, and keeps the ventilation clear, which is also how you keep carbon monoxide out of the house.
A rebuild is the biggest of the chimney repair services Crownline provides in Arlington, TX, and it is the one we try hardest to help you avoid: a crown repair this year beats a rebuild in five. Call (817) 505-4222 or request a free estimate below and we will look at the chimney before the next storm does.
Below are the frequently asked questions Arlington homeowners send us about chimney rebuilds, plus a few maintenance tips. If yours is not here, call and a real person at our Arlington office will answer it.