Chimney Repair & Stone Repointing

Why Maryland Heights Chimneys Need a Masonry Specialist

Maryland Heights (63043) sits on a housing mix that catches a lot of contractors out. You have solid mid-century brick, you have genuine natural fieldstone chimneys, and out toward the newer subdivisions you have wood-framed chases with metal chase covers. Three completely different structures, three completely different repairs.

The mistake we see most often here is stone treated like brick. A brick chimney is a grid — straight joints, uniform width, and an angle grinder rides along the line just fine. A stone chimney has no straight line anywhere: every joint changes width, depth and direction. Put a grinder on it and it skips onto the stone face, leaving scars that never weather out. Stone joints have to be cleared by hand chisel, one at a time, which is why stone repointing takes two to three times the labour of brick tuckpointing.

The other Maryland Heights pattern: vertical structural cracks. Water gets in through a failed crown, freezes, expands about 9%, and levers the crack wider — a little more every winter. We've been called to chimneys here where a previous crew had bolted a metal plate over the crack. That does nothing. The water arrives from the crown, above and inside the wall, not through the face. All the plate does is hide the crack while it keeps growing.

We serve homeowners across: Westport, Dorsett, Bridgeton Terrace, Creve Coeur Mill Road corridor and the Riverport area.

Our Maryland Heights Services

Chimney Sweep & Cleaning Level I, II & III Inspection Tuckpointing & Masonry Chimney Relining / Liner Chimney Repair & Rebuild Chimney Leak Repair Gas Fireplace Service Storm Damage — FREE Assessment

Serving all of Maryland Heights, MO (63043) and the surrounding communities. Free written estimate on every job.

RECENT PROJECT IN MARYLAND HEIGHTS

Natural Stone Chimney, Hand-Repointed

Hand-chiselled joints · No power tools · Color-matched mortar · 30-year work

A Maryland Heights (63043) fieldstone chimney with mortar joints washed out to real depth — deep enough that water wasn't just wetting the surface, it was collecting inside the wall.

Stone is not brick. There are no straight joint lines to follow, so an angle grinder has nothing to ride in — it skips, and every skip cuts a permanent scar into the face of the stone that never weathers out. Every joint here was cleared by hand chisel and mallet, one at a time, then repointed with a mortar matched against four different stone colours and soft enough to stay the sacrificial layer.

Every joint hand-tooled. Stone doesn't spall like brick — done right, this is a 30-year job.

BEFORE — WASHED-OUT JOINTS

Maryland Heights stone chimney with deteriorated mortar

Deep voids between fieldstone on a Maryland Heights chimney

AFTER — HAND-TOOLED

Completed stone chimney repointing in Maryland Heights

Hand-tooled mortar joints on a repointed fieldstone chimney

Finished natural stone chimney repointing

Own a stone chimney? Ask what tool they plan to use.

If a contractor quotes stone at brick prices, the answer tells you what your chimney will look like when they leave.

CALL FOR INSPECTION

RECENT PROJECT IN MARYLAND HEIGHTS

Structural Crack — Rebuilt, Not Patched

Above-roofline rebuild · New flue tile · New crown with drip edge

A vertical crack running down from the crown, and a previous crew's answer to it: a metal plate bolted over the top. The plate did nothing to stop water — water arrives from the crown, from above and inside the wall, not through the face. All the plate did was hide the crack while it kept growing, with bolts driven into already-compromised brick.

A vertical crack is not a scratch. It's a mechanism: water enters, freezes, expands ~9%, widens the crack, so the wider crack holds more water next winter. It accelerates every single year. The top courses of brick here could be moved by hand. We took the exposed section down to sound masonry and rebuilt it — because you cannot rebuild on top of a crack.

New brick, new flue tile, new crown with a proper overhang and drip edge. Cause fixed, not covered.

BEFORE — CRACK + BOLTED PATCH PLATE

Vertical structural crack in a Maryland Heights chimney

Metal patch plate bolted over a chimney crack

Loose top courses of brick on a cracked chimney

DEMO — DOWN TO SOUND MASONRY

Demolishing the failed above-roofline section

Removing cracked brick courses from a chimney

REBUILD

New crown formed with overhang and drip edge

AFTER

Completed above-roofline chimney rebuild in Maryland Heights

Finished chimney rebuild, Maryland Heights MO

Been quoted $20,000 for a full chimney teardown?

An above-roofline rebuild runs $3,500–$8,500 and usually does everything you actually need. Get a free second opinion.

CALL FOR INSPECTION

Frequently Asked Questions

Maryland Heights Chimney Questions, Answered

Do you repoint natural stone chimneys, not just brick?

Yes — and we do it by hand. Stone joints are irregular in width, depth and direction, so they must be cleared with a hand chisel rather than a power grinder. A grinder skips on stone and leaves permanent scars on the face. It takes two to three times the labour of brick, which is why stone repointing costs more — and why it lasts 30 years or more once it's done properly.

Is a vertical crack in my chimney serious?

Almost always. A vertical crack running through brick and mortar means the structure is being pulled apart — usually by freeze-thaw expansion from water inside the masonry, sometimes by footing movement. It is an open water path and it widens every single winter. Caught early it's roughly $1,000–$2,500. Left five years it becomes a $4,000–$8,000 rebuild.

Can you just patch or plate over a chimney crack?

No. A bolted plate doesn't stop water reaching the masonry, because the water comes down from the crown and runs inside the wall, not through the face. The plate hides the crack while it keeps growing, and the bolts are driven into brick that's already compromised. The cracked section has to come out.

How much does chimney work cost in Maryland Heights?

Tuckpointing and repointing start at $800. Chimney repair starts at $300. An above-roofline rebuild typically runs $3,500–$8,500 — compared with $15,000–$25,000 for a full teardown, which is quoted far more often than it's actually needed. Every written estimate is free.

Chimney Repair, Stone Repointing & Rebuilds in Maryland Heights, MO