Westland, Wayne County
Chimney repair in Westland
Most Westland chimneys went up while the city was still Nankin Township, which doubled from about 30,000 people in 1950 to about 61,000 in 1960. At sixty-plus years old, the brick near the top and the flashing at the roof are what usually need work.
What goes wrong on a Nankin-era chimney
The brick ranches that went up across Nankin Township in the 1950s and early 1960s mostly have one chimney, with a flue for the fireplace and another for the furnace or water heater. After sixty winters, water has had a long time to work into the mortar joints near the top. It freezes, expands and pushes the joints open. The chimney in the photo shows where that ends up: horizontal cracks through the mortar, and corner bricks pushed out of line.
When the brick is still tight and only the joints have worn back, tuckpointing fixes it. When bricks have shifted, like these, that section usually comes down and gets relaid. Waiting another winter on a chimney like this one tends to make the section that needs relaying bigger, and the price goes up with it.
Norwayne is different
The Norwayne subdivision went up in 1942 and 1943 as wartime housing, built without basements. It's been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2013. Most of the houses have been re-sided and remodeled since. Some have a small chimney, some a metal vent pipe, some a flue nobody uses. We figure out what's there, and what it vents, before quoting anything, and we check with the city about any permit or approval and put the cost on the quote.
Starting prices
These are starting points. The written quote has the price for your chimney.
- Tuckpointing: $595 to $4,995
- Replacing 1 to 15 damaged bricks: $850 plus $75 a brick
- Crown rebuild: from $1,500 plus $1 per square inch of crown
- Flashing repair or replacement: $595 to $3,495
- Waterproofing sound brick after repairs: $795 to $2,725
How it works
We look at the whole chimney first, along with the part you noticed. You get photos, a straight answer on whether a smaller repair would hold, and a price in writing. Nothing starts until you approve it. If you'd like us to look first, a chimney inspection in Westland is $49 and goes toward the repair if you go ahead.
Questions
There's a crack running sideways across our chimney. Is it about to fall?
Not usually, but it needs looking at soon. A horizontal crack in a chimney's mortar most often means water has been getting into the joints and freezing, which pushes the brick apart. If the bricks above it have shifted out of line, that section may need to be taken down and relaid. We'll tell you how far it goes, with photos, before we quote.
Our house is in Norwayne and has a metal pipe instead of a brick chimney. Do you work on those?
Yes. Norwayne houses have been remodeled in different ways over the years, so what vents where varies from house to house. We look at the pipe, the cap on top and the flashing where it comes through the roof, and tell you what each part needs. A cap repair and re-seating is $195, and a new single-flue cap is $375.
Chimney repair near Westland
Chimney repair in Westland
Pick a day and a 3-hour arrival window online. If you'd rather talk it through, call (248) 266-9991.