N.T.B. Masonry

I purchased my house two months ago and knew that there were areas on the top of the chimney that were rotted. An inspection by my chimney sweep suggested that I have the cement bricks on top replaced due to extensive damage. It was so bad that a few-year-old tree was growing out of the cement. Norm was recommended by the contractor who was hired to replace my roof and siding around the chimney. He estimated that the job could cost as little as $500 or as much as $800 depending on how much unseen damage there was. It turns that the damage was much more than either of us expected. The tree that was previously growing up there was rooted in pretty far so he removed as much of it as he could and replaced anything that was rotted. He also did a small extra job by replacing the rotted flue. He did not go above the $800 estimate, even though I'm pretty sure the job would have cost more if it was all priced out with further inspection. I asked Norm if he could take a look at a few extra areas around my chimney to make sure it was safe to use my wood stove - a previous contractor said that I should have other masonry work done before using it, not knowing that a mason was scheduled to visit not long after. He confirmed that the work was unnecessary and that it was safe to use my stove. He even stayed extra to light the stove with me to be sure that it was working properly - from this test we concluded that the chimney is safe, but the stove itself could be replaced since it is very old and let a lot of smoke into the house. I'm glad he was there with me for this first test - it was very comforting!