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Signs your chimney needs repair
Chimneys announce their problems, quietly, from the top down. Here is the checklist we would run on our own houses, ordered from what you see in the driveway to what only a camera finds.
From the ground
White staining on the brick means water is moving through the masonry and leaving minerals behind. Green growth means moisture is living on the stack. Brick faces flaking off, spalling, mean water got inside the clay. Missing mortar lines you can see from the sidewalk mean joints are past due. A missing, tilted, or visibly rusted cap means the flue is drinking rain. Any lean or stepped cracking through courses moves the call from routine to prompt.
From inside the house
Ceiling or wall stains near the chimney chase, a campfire smell in humid summer weather, smoke entering the room, a damper that will not move, and rust flakes or debris in the firebox all point up the flue. None of these self-resolve, and each is cheaper this year than next.
Common questions
How urgent is a spalling brick?
One or two spalled faces is a schedule-it problem. Spreading spalling or spalling concentrated under the crown means the water source is active, and each wet season widens the repair.
My chimney looks fine. Do I still need it checked?
The flue interior and the crown top are invisible from the ground, and those two are where problems start. A periodic look at what you cannot see is the whole point of inspection.