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"Fantastic company to work with! Project was initially a difficult chimney flashing replacement and repair of the underlying wood and asphalt shingles as it was leaking under the roof and deteriorating the wood below. Project was 2.5k. The project then extended to a roof rejuvenation and we had to involve a mason to redo the entire cap. Equity Roofing did honor their warranty to the fullest and went above and beyond to ensure eventual customer satisfaction. Absolutely recommend!" Alexander F., Five-star Verified Google Review |
Project Overview
This Lewisburg homeowner had been dealing with a persistent chimney leak long before he called Equity Roofing. A previous contractor had already attempted a fix via caulking around the chimney. When that failed, they came back, put more caulking on it, and eventually stopped returning his calls altogether. By the time he reached out to us, referred by a trusted neighbor, he was looking for accountability just as much as he was looking for a repair.
So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work on what would turn out to be a very long, but ultimately very rewarding, roof leak repair.
To start, the chimney on this home sits in the middle of the roof, one of the most difficult positions to waterproof. Water can enter from all four sides, and isolating the exact source requires methodical testing.
By the time our team arrived, the prior contractor had applied thick tar across the roof to seal the leak. Unfortunately, this made it difficult to diagnose what was actually failing underneath. The chimney's mortar joints showed significant deterioration, with moss and organic growth visible deep in the gaps, a clear sign of long-term moisture infiltration.
Because his roof happened to also be a good candidate for roof rejuvenation (with 75% of granules still intact and overall sturdy), the homeowner also elected to add on this service. He was particularly interested in the 5-year warranty that came with it, believing that this would cover any future leaks the roof would have.
Technically, though, the chimney was a separate issue from the roof, and wouldn’t have been covered under its warranty—but what can we say? We always try to do right by our homeowners, and we don’t let a technicality get in the way of that. Even at our own cost (our sincerest apologies to our Liz, our Director of Accounting, who likely suffered no small headache from our antics).
The work that followed wasn't a simple “one and done” fix. It rarely is with chimneys.
After completing our initial flashing repair and rejuvenation treatment, we got a call that the chimney was still leaking after long rainstorms. Chimneys with masonry issues often behave this way; they’ll hold up through light rain but begin to seep once the masonry becomes saturated. That pattern was our first clue.
Our Production Manager, Josh Stoltzfus, came out to take a closer look. He found a few areas where our own workmanship could have been improved. Even though those details may not have been the root cause, he didn’t look past them. He scheduled a return visit to redo that portion of the chimney flashing.
Before redoing the work, Josh conducted a water test, a methodical process of isolating chimney sections to identify exactly where water was entering.
He wrapped the chimney masonry in synthetic material, leaving the flashing exposed, and ran water over the flashing area. No leak. This suggested the flashing wasn’t the primary source. But to be sure, he left the chimney wrapped and covered and waited.
After the next heavy rain, the homeowner called again and reported another leak. So the team went back, uncovered the chimney, and redid the flashing work. Another wait. Another call. Still leaking.
At this point, it became clear that the problem wasn’t the flashing. Josh realized that when he’d covered the chimney during his initial water test, he’d wrapped the sides but left the top exposed. The top of the chimney had visible cracks. Water was finding its way in from above, through deteriorated masonry, not through the flashing at all.
Our contracts include a disclaimer that if a chimney leak is caused by masonry failure rather than flashing failure, our roofing work doesn’t cover it. That’s a fair and standard limitation—roofers install and repair roofing systems, not masonry.
But there’s what a contract says, and then there’s what a customer hears. The two don’t always align.
In this case, that clause had never been clearly explained to the homeowner. And because we’d promised that our rejuvenation package would resolve the leak, his expectation was that we owned the problem, no matter the cause.
Josh sat down with the homeowner and had a straightforward conversation. We got an estimate from Bender Masonry to redo the chimney masonry and install a new cap, a proper one that would create an overhang for better water runoff and seal the cracks at the top. Then we offered to cover the portion of the service cost equal to the rejuvenation upgrade he’d purchased, and asked that he cover the remainder.
In the end, Equity Roofing absorbed roughly two-thirds of the total masonry cost. We weren’t bound to by contract. We did it anyway.
The chimney has not leaked since. Not after light rains, not after the kind of extended, heavy downpours that used to send water running down the interior walls. A particularly heavy rain came through about two weeks before this case study was written—the kind of rain that would have triggered a call in years past—and no call came.
What the homeowner has now:
And what he also has—maybe more importantly—is the experience of a contractor who stuck around, told the truth, and didn’t disappear when things got complicated.
The experience helped us understand the importance of water testing for chimneys, and it’s a big part of why it’s now standard practice for any leak repair we do.
Protected by the Following Warranties
Roof Rejuvenation: 5-year warranty
Chimney Flashing Repair: 5-year workmanship warranty
Ready to protect your home with the same level of care?
Contact Equity Roofing today for a free inspection and estimate.