Chimney Flashing Repair in Studio City: Written Report, Licensed Technicians

A homeowner on a quiet street off Tujunga Village called us last winter after converting a wood-burning fireplace to a gas log set. The mason who handled the firebox work mentioned, almost as an afterthought, that the chimney flashing looked rough. The homeowner hadn't noticed leaks yet, but when the first real November rain hit, a brown stain appeared on the ceiling about two feet from the chimney. She assumed the new gas log installation had caused a problem inside the flue. It hadn't. The leak was coming from failed step flashing along the left rake of the chimney where it met the roof deck. The original 1950s aluminum step flashing had corroded at the fold points and pulled away from the mortar joints.

This is a pattern we see across the Ventura Boulevard flats and the Moorpark Street corridor. Homeowners invest in a gas log conversion, update the masonry inside the firebox, and overlook the flashing outside because it doesn't seem connected. But masonry work vibrates the chimney structure. Mortar gets repointed, bricks get replaced, and the counter flashing embedded in those joints loosens. If nobody inspects the roof connection during a conversion project, the next rainy season reveals it. By the time this homeowner called Family Home Chimney Experts, water had already started darkening the sheathing underneath her roofing felt. She needed a proper diagnosis before more damage set in.

Our inspection started on the roof, not inside the flue. We pulled back the shingles along the chimney's uphill side and found exactly what we expected: the original aluminum step flashing had no counter flashing layered over it. In the 1950s, builders in this part of Studio City often relied on a single layer of step flashing set into raked mortar joints with no secondary seal. NFPA 211 Level 2 inspection standards require a camera scan of the flue interior during real estate transactions, but flashing failures call for a careful exterior evaluation first. We documented three corroded step flashing pieces on the left side and a missing cricket on the uphill chimney face. Without a cricket, rainwater pooled against the masonry during every storm, accelerating mortar erosion at the base.

We replaced all step flashing with 16-ounce lead-coated copper, a material that outlasts bare aluminum by decades in Southern California's wet-dry cycling. We installed a new cricket with soldered seams to divert water around the chimney's uphill wall. The counter flashing was cut into fresh mortar joints and sealed with high-temperature urethane. The entire repair took one day. CSIA guidelines recommend inspecting flashing any time chimney masonry repair is performed, and that's the standard we follow. If you've had gas log work, a firebox rebuild, or repointing done on your Studio City chimney without a flashing check, call Family Home Chimney Experts to schedule an inspection before the next rain season.