Tips For Installing Chimney Flashing
If you are a homeowner, you likely enjoy the fact that your house has a fireplace. You might be looking forward to the weather getting colder, lighting a fire, and curling up under blankets. However, your parade is going to be rained on if your chimney leaks. One of the common reasons why you are suffering leaks is due to your flashing not being installed properly or having problems from degradation. Here are some tips for installing chimney flashing.
1. Go With Prefabricated Flashing
The first thing that you want to do is make sure that you go with prefabricated flashing, rather than flashing that you need to assemble yourself. If you are not a professional roofer, it is best that you spend as little time on your roof as possible for safety reasons. You might have to pay a little bit of extra money in order to to get the prefabricated flashing, but it will take you a lot less time to get the installation completed. All you need to do is tell a flashing company the dimensions that you need and check their "off the shelf" options. If your chimney is a standard size, you can just grab the flashing you need and go right to work.
2. Move From the Base to the Top
The next thing that you want to keep in mind is that you should be building your flashing like a pyramid: from the base up. This is very important because it will allow you to establish a solid foundation before adding more weight to the chimney. This will help your flashing from relying too heavily on the chimney itself for support, which will help you from putting too much stress on it.
3. Use a Grinder and a Diamond Blade for Cutting the Groove
The last tip is that you will need a grinder and a diamond blade for cutting the groove in the bottom of the flashing. This will allow you to get really close to the brick on the lower edge of the mortar joint and will allow you to make the final joint a lot less visible. This will help your overall job look better, as well as perform well. Be sure that you are cutting the slots a little longer than you think is necessary so that you have some space to work with.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in prefabricated flashing for sale, like Pacific Sheet Metal.