Chimney Repair & Masonry in Citrus Heights, CA

Chimney Repair & Masonry for Citrus Heights Homeowners

Citrus Heights grew explosively through the 1970s and 1980s, and that timing shows in almost every chimney we service there. This is prefabricated metal fireplace country. Rather than the site-built masonry of older Sacramento neighbourhoods, the tract builders working around Sunrise Mall and Birdcage installed factory-built zero-clearance fireboxes vented through insulated metal chase pipe, enclosed in a framed and stucco-clad chase. These systems have a finite service life, and a great many of them are now well past it. The chase covers rust through and dump water directly into the framed chase; the firebox refractory panels crack; and the original spark arrestor screens have usually corroded away entirely. Homeowners are often surprised to learn that their chimney is not masonry at all, and that the repair path for a prefab unit is completely different from a brick one.

Predominantly 1970s and 1980s factory-built zero-clearance fireplaces in framed, stucco-clad chases. Rusted-through chase covers are the leading cause of water intrusion here, followed by cracked refractory panels and corroded spark arrestors. Prefab units are replaced as assemblies, not repaired like masonry, and many have reached end of life.

A chimney is the only part of the house with masonry exposed on all four sides and on top. Sacramento's climate is unusually hard on it: long, very hot, bone-dry summers open hairline cracks through thermal expansion, then a concentrated wet season drives rain into every one of them. Water gets into the crown, saturates the brick, and freezes just often enough at foothill elevations to spall the faces off. Left alone, a cracked crown becomes a rebuilt chimney.