Chimney Separation And Leaning

One of the earliest signs of foundation problems

The concrete for your home’s foundation and your chimney’s footing are often poured at the same time, though the chimney pad is much shallower.

Once your chimney begins to separate from your home’s exterior, it is likely that foundation cracks—or failure—are not far behind.

Acting immediately after you notice your brick fireplace separating from the wall is paramount to preventing water damage, bugs, structural damage and cracked chimney liners. Gaps—no matter the size—are a sign of underlying structural problems.

Act Now to Fix the Damage

Why Your Chimney Might Pull Away From Your House

Despite the fact that your chimney might be attached to the outside of your home, your chimney does not rely on your home for support. The entire weight of a masonry chimney—sometimes tons—rests on a small slab of concrete, often referred to as a chimney pad or footing.

So, if your chimney footing starts to weaken or crack, your chimney will pull away from your house. There are several things that can cause or expedite chimney separation, such as:

Some soils provide good, solid support for homes. Others do not. Expansive soils—or soils prone to expanding and contracting during freeze-thaw cycles—can, over time, wear down the chimney footing, which can result in your brick fireplace separating from the wall.

There are different grades of concrete based on its quality, strength and durability. As you might imagine. low-grade concrete provides less support and cracks more easily than high-grade concrete, which could be the cause of your leaning chimney in the attic.

Chimney pads should beat least a foot deep, and extend at least 6 inches on each side of the chimney and should be reinforced with rebar, or a steel rod within the concrete. Sometimes, though, chimneys pads are not installed correctly, resulting in premature structural failure and brick fireplaces separating from your wall.

How Much Does it Cost to Repair a Chimney that’s Pulling Away from my House?

Chimney repair costs can be minimized by fixing the problem at its source to prevent further damage. An experienced foundation repair contractor such as Helitech will be able to evaluate the damage, diagnose the problem and implement a long-term solution. The cost to repair a chimney that’s pulling away from your house can prevent further foundation problems and structural damage for your home.

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Here’s how we will fix your leaning chimney without disassembling it:

Drive helical piles down into ground
Your chimney is separating from the wall because it lacks the necessary support to stand on its own. We can solve this problem by re-stabilizing your chimney. To do this, we drive down helical piles—long metal spears which extend deep into the ground to provide support—deep enough into the ground that the reach load-bearing soil. This process, which we complete with specialized hydraulic rotary drive equipment, will drive the pile deep underneath your chimney and your home without ripping apart the surface of your lawn
Slip brackets underneath footing
Once we have the helical piles in place, we’ll put brackets underneath your chimney pad so that the strength of the piles are channeled toward supporting the weight of your chimney.
Lift chimney back up using hydraulic jacks
Since your chimney has sunk lower than the desired level, we will secure hydraulic jacks to the footing, and lift your chimney slightly.
Secure brackets and remove jacks
To ensure your chimney does not sink in the future, we will secure the brackets in place. Now the chimney is less reliant on the footing for support and less affected by water saturation in the surface strata of soil.

Testimonials

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They were great, they got the whole thing done in one day and the next day it rained more than it has all year and no water in the basement thanks to the great work and perfect timing.

Aaron J.

I forgot to mention what a great job Brad and his crew did! Before they started any work, Brad went over everything that they were going to do and how they were going to do it which I really appreciated because then I knew we were all on the same page. They put up plastic during the jackhammering and suggested I turn off the A/C (I did have all the registers closed) so there was minimum dust that got up to the main level. They completed all the jackhammering by the afternoon of the first day, Tuesday. Throughout all three days (I couldn’t believe they completed the job in 3 days!) they were very professional and I sensed they took pride in what they were doing. I was so pleased, too, that they seeded and laid straw down where they dug and placed the drainage line from the sump pump. If every crew is like Brad and his workers, Helitech should be very proud of their employees. I would highly recommend Helitech to any of my family and friends.

And thank YOU, John, for your first assessment of my situation back in May and for keeping in touch especially the week prior to the scheduled work and immediately following the completed job. Helitech gets an A+ in my book because of its knowledgeable and caring employees.

Kathy B.

ST. PETERS, MO

Will and his crew with Helitech did a fantastic job. They made some suggestions and I felt they had my best interest in mind. My porch and house foundation is finally stable and I can relax and enjoy our home.

Mike D.

NEW MELLE, MISSOURI

Very professional from start to finish. They do an excellent job explaining the entire process and in a way anyone could understand. I highly recommend Helitech to anyone in need of this kind of service.

Chris H.

STEPHENS, MO

I could not have asked for a better experience! Working with Brandon has made the entire process easy. He was extremely knowledgeable and really went above and beyond to find the best solution for my basement.

Jessica S.

CHESTERFIELD, MO

They were great, they got the whole thing done in one day and the next day it rained more than it has all year and no water in the basement thanks to the great work and perfect timing.