Fire Rebuild & Reconstruction in West Hills
Fire rebuild and reconstruction in West Hills, CA: keeping water out of a surviving chimney through the crown, flashing and mortar joints.
A chimney that survived the fire still has to shed water. On a West Hills rebuild, rain reaches a standing chimney at the crown on top, at the flashing along the roofline and through mortar joints that heat may have opened. Each gets a repair or a replacement before the new roof goes on around it.
Crown, cap and flashing
The crown is the sloped cap of mortar or concrete that sheds water away from the flue. Heat cracks it, and a cracked crown lets water into the brick below. We replace damaged crowns and add a metal cap over the flue. At the roofline, step flashing and counterflashing are layered with the new roofing, and a wide chimney gets a small peaked cricket on its high side to divert water around it so none pools behind the brick. The cap is sized to overhang the brick on every side.
Mortar joints and the flue
Heat can crack flue tiles and open mortar joints, and water follows both paths into the house. An engineer decides first whether the chimney is sound enough to keep. If it is, joints are repointed with mortar that matches the original in color and hardness, and the flue gets a stainless liner. If it must come down, the chimney is rebuilt with matching brick so the profile still appears at the roofline, and the new flashing goes in as the brick rises.
About our Fire Rebuild & Reconstruction serviceEverything we do in West Hills
Fire Rebuild & Reconstruction in West Hills: common questions
In part. A chimney base, a foundation or sound framing can stay after an engineer's tests. A chimney that looks whole can hide cracked flue tiles, so it is inspected before the decision to keep it.
Yes, in how it looks. A surviving chimney, photos of the roofline and old permit drawings guide the rebuild of windows and trim. Underneath, the structure meets current code and will not be identical, so wiring and framing are new.
Teardown and new construction each get a permit, and electrical and plumbing ride along with the second. LADBS reviews the drawings and comes out for inspections as the work moves. We assemble the sheets with your designer, file them and stay with the job through every visit.
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