DIY guideRoof and gutters
Look over the chimney from the ground
From the yard, with binoculars or your phone's zoom: the cap and its screen, the top slab, the brick and mortar, and the metal where it meets the roof.
- 10 to 20 min
- 7 steps
- Every step animated
7 steps
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Stand back in the yard where you can see the top of the brick stack, with binoculars or your phone's zoom.
Stay on the ground. Never climb up to look at the chimney.Look for the metal cap on top and its mesh screen. Bent, rusted or missing lets birds, animals and rain in.
Look at the cement slab round the top of the flue for cracks and missing chunks.
Look along the bricks for gaps in the mortar, flaking or crumbling brick, and white stains.
Look at the metal strips where the stack meets the shingles, for gaps, rust or lifted edges.
Take zoomed photos of anything you're unsure of, from a couple of angles, and send them to Handyman.
A missing cap, cracks, loose bricks or a lean: don't light a fire until a chimney pro has looked. Ask Handyman for one.
What you need
- Binoculars, or a phone with a zoom
Call a pro if
- The cap or its screen is missing or broken
- There are cracks, loose bricks or gaps in the mortar
- The chimney leans
- Water stains show inside near the fireplace
Handyman says: Damaged? I'll find a chimney pro.
Free for every home. Handyman asks a few questions, then books a pro it trusts.
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a pro do it?