Wood Stove Repair in Thousand Oaks

A freestanding wood stove usually vents through a metal chimney that runs up through the ceiling, the attic and out through the roof. That chimney passes through the roof at a flashing called a roof jack or storm collar, and that joint is where most wood stove leaks start. The storm collar is a band clamped around the pipe above the flashing to shed water, and its seal ages in the sun. When it fails, water runs down the outside of the chimney pipe into the attic and shows up as a stain on the ceiling around the pipe. Rain can also come straight down an uncapped pipe and drip into the stove, leaving rust in the firebox and on the baffle. Stoves set into an old masonry fireplace share every water weakness of that chimney.

We trace the leak the same way we do for any chimney: start with the stain, check the attic around the pipe, then go to the roof. A cracked storm collar seal, a lifted flashing or a missing cap are common finds. Each is quoted in writing before work. If the chimney pipe itself has rusted or the joints have separated, sections get replaced with parts listed for that chimney system, because factory-built chimneys are tested as complete systems. For the masonry version of this problem, see chimney flashing repair.

Inside the stove the repair list is fairly standard. Door and glass gaskets flatten over time and let air leak in, making the fire hard to control. Firebrick inside the stove cracks and should be replaced when pieces break away. Baffles and secondary air tubes warp or burn through. Glass gets cloudy or cracks. Water speeds all of it: rusted bolts, damaged firebrick that soaked up moisture and then cracked when heated, a corroded baffle. We replace worn parts with ones made for the stove's model where we can find them and tell you if a stove has reached the point where replacement makes more sense.

A wood stove's chimney needs sweeping like any other, and creosote builds up faster in a stove pipe if the stove is often run low and smoky. A yearly check and sweep keeps the stove safe and gives us a look at the roof penetration before the rains. Our chimney sweep visit starts from $210. If your stove is in a mountain or canyon setting with wildfire exposure, a cap with a spark arrestor screen is worth having, and our chimney cap installation page explains the options.