Livonia, Wayne County
Chimney repair in Livonia
Livonia has two ages of chimney to fix. Most are on ranches from the 1950s and 1960s, now past sixty years old. The older ones are in Rosedale Gardens off Plymouth Road, where the first houses went up in the mid-1920s.
Two ages of chimney
Most Livonia chimneys went up after 1950, the year the whole township became a city. The ranches built in that rush usually have one brick chimney through the middle of the roof. On these, the crown fails first. It's a slab of mortar on top, and after sixty-odd winters it has hairline cracks that let water down into the top courses of brick. The flashing comes next, especially where a roofer bent the old flashing back into place during a re-roof instead of replacing it.
Rosedale Gardens is older. The Shelden Land Company built it on the streets between Plymouth Road and West Chicago, near Merriman, starting in the mid-1920s. The first houses were wood. When building picked back up after the Depression, the developer switched to brick and bricked over some of the earlier houses too. A chimney there may be the oldest masonry on the house, with mortar patched by several owners over the years.
Starting prices
These are where the common Livonia repairs start. The written quote has the exact price for your chimney.
- Crown sealing, for a crown that's cracked but still solid: $249 to $875
- Crown repair: from $1,000 plus $1 per square inch of crown
- Flashing repair or replacement: $595 to $3,495
- Tuckpointing: $595 to $4,995, depending on how much of the chimney needs new mortar
- Replacing 1 to 15 damaged bricks: $850 plus $75 a brick
Matching a 1920s chimney
On an old chimney, mortar that's too hard or the wrong shade shows from the sidewalk. We look at the joints that are still sound and match the new mortar to them as closely as we can. When bricks have to come out, we look for replacements close to the originals in size and color.
How we quote it
We go up and look at the whole chimney, along with whatever made you call. You get photos of what we found and a price in writing, and we tell you whether a smaller repair would hold for now. Nothing starts until you approve it. If you'd like someone to look before you decide anything, book a chimney inspection in Livonia for $49.
Questions
We had a new roof put on our Livonia ranch and now the chimney leaks. Who do we call?
Call us, and call your roofer too if the roof is still under their warranty. A leak that starts right after a re-roof usually comes from the flashing around the chimney, but a cracked crown can leak at the same time. We check the flashing, the crown and the cap on one visit, show you photos of where the water gets in, and give you a written price for the repair.
Our house is in Rosedale Gardens. Does that change how the chimney gets repaired?
Rosedale Gardens has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2010. We check with the city whether your repair needs a permit or any other approval and put any cost on the quote. On the work itself, we match the brick and the mortar color to what's already on the house, so the repair doesn't stand out from the street.
Chimney repair in Livonia
Pick a day and a 3-hour arrival window online. If you'd rather talk it through, call (248) 266-9991.