Winterset is the Madison County seat, southwest of Des Moines, known for its covered bridges and historic courthouse square. It’s a bit of a drive for our crew, so we plan Winterset work ahead of time. Top Notch Chimney Sweep & Services has been repairing chimneys across Central Iowa since 2002, and our advice to Winterset homeowners is simple: get chimney repairs done in the warm months.
Masonry Work Needs Good Weather
Mortar and crown materials need time and reasonable temperatures to cure properly. Repairs done in freezing weather are harder to do well. Waterproofing treatments also go on best when the brick is dry. Spring and summer give us the conditions to do the job right.
Find Problems Before Winter Makes Them Worse
Nothing wears out a chimney faster than water. It soaks into brick and mortar, freezes, expands and cracks things a little more each cycle. A small crack in the crown in April can be a much bigger one by March. Catching it in the off-season stops that cycle before another winter starts it again.
Repairs Worth Planning Ahead
Crown repair
The crown protects the top of the chimney from water. A cracked or poorly built crown lets it in. Our chimney crown repair ranges from sealing to full rebuilds.
Tuckpointing and brick replacement
Crumbling mortar joints get ground out and repointed with new mortar. Bricks with flaking faces get replaced. Our team has trained in historic masonry restoration at the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation, so we take care to match the look of older chimneys. See masonry repairs.
Waterproofing
After repairs, a breathable water repellent helps the masonry shed water while still letting moisture escape. Learn about chimney waterproofing.
Relining
A cracked flue liner needs to be addressed before you burn again. Relining is much easier to plan for in summer than in the middle of heating season.
Start With an Off-Season Sweep and Inspection
April through August is our off-season. Scheduling your annual chimney inspection and sweep then gives us time to find any repairs and finish them before fall. In the colder months our schedule fills with urgent calls, and appointment options get tighter.
Keep a List Over the Winter
Most chimney problems show themselves during the burning season, when you’re least able to do much about them. Instead of trying to fix things in January, write them down. When spring comes, that list makes your inspection much more useful. Things worth noting:
- Smoke drifting into the room when the fire is starting or dying down
- Water stains on the ceiling or wall near the chimney after a thaw
- Bits of mortar, brick or tile turning up in the firebox
- A damper that got harder to open or close as the winter went on
- White staining or flaking brick showing up on the outside of the chimney
Bring the list when you call. It helps us plan the visit and the materials we may need, which matters for a trip out to Winterset.
Flashing Work Belongs in Dry Weather
If your list includes a stain near the chimney, flashing is a likely suspect. Flashing seals the gap where the chimney meets the roof. When it lifts, rusts or was installed poorly, water runs behind it every time it rains. Snow melting against the chimney in late winter finds the same gaps.
Resetting flashing means working on the roof, and that’s best done in dry, mild conditions. Our flashing repair fixes the problem at the source instead of smearing more sealant over it.
Older Chimneys Around Town
Winterset has a lot of older homes, and many of their chimneys were built long before modern materials. Mortar from that era is often softer than what’s sold today. Packing hard new mortar into old brick can actually crack the brick around it, so matching the material matters as much as matching the color.
That’s one reason our team’s training at the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation comes in handy. A repair on an older chimney should look like it belongs there and wear the same way as the brick around it.
Caps and Dampers Before Fall
Two small parts do a lot to protect a chimney through winter. The cap keeps rain, snow and animals out of the flue. The damper seals the chimney when you aren’t burning. If the cap is missing, water runs down onto the damper and rusts it, so the two problems often show up together.
Summer is the right time to replace either one. We install stainless steel chimney caps with a lifetime warranty, and we repair or replace dampers that have rusted or warped.
Wood and Gas Both Benefit
A gas fireplace avoids creosote, but it doesn’t keep the chimney out of the weather. The crown, flashing and brick on a gas-vented chimney face the same freeze-thaw winters as any other. Warm-weather repairs make just as much sense for Winterset homeowners who burn gas as for those who burn wood.
What a Good Crown Looks Like
When we rebuild a crown, we follow a few rules that many original crowns ignored. It should be made of concrete, preferably reinforced with mesh, rather than ordinary mortar. It should be at least 2 inches thick at its thinnest point. It should slope away from the flue so water runs off, and it should extend 2 to 3 inches past the brick on every side with a drip edge, so runoff falls onto the roof instead of down the face of the chimney.
A crown built that way holds up to years of freeze-thaw. One built flat and thin from leftover mortar usually starts cracking within a few winters.
Don’t Forget the Firebox
Spring is also a good time to look inside the fireplace. Cracked firebrick and open mortar joints in the firebox let heat reach the framing behind it. Firebrick repair is part of our masonry work, and it’s much easier to schedule in May than in December.
Gas units have one extra item for the spring list: soot. If the glass or logs darkened over the winter, mention it when you call. It usually points to a burner or venting issue that’s easier to sort out on a warm day than during a cold snap.
Planned Ahead, Done Right
The Hunkele family has run this company for 24 years. The habit of planning chimney work around the seasons comes straight out of that experience.
Because Winterset is farther out for us, booking early in the season gives us room to plan the trip and any follow-up repair visit. If we find work that needs materials ordered, there’s still plenty of warm weather left to get it done before you need the fireplace.
We also serve West Des Moines and Van Meter.
Plan your chimney work now. Call (515) 249-6337 to schedule a Winterset visit, or send a scheduling request.
