The Inspection Flagged the Chimney. Now What?

Home inspectors flag chimneys constantly, and in Greater Moncton's aging housing stock they're usually right to. What Chimney Moncton sees over and over is the same avoidable pattern: an inspection photo of spalled brick lands in an email, nobody attaches a price to it, and a repair that costs a few thousand dollars starts eating tens of thousands out of a negotiation — or collapses it. The fix, on either side of the table, is the same document: a written quote from a mason, obtained in time to use it.

Why the chimney always makes the report

Three reasons. It's visible — spalling, open joints, a cracked crown and a lean can all be seen from the lawn or a drone, no ladder required, so it's the easiest major finding an inspector can document. It's consequential — inspectors know Moncton's freeze-thaw record, so "monitor" isn't a responsible note here the way it might be in Victoria. And if there's a wood stove or fireplace, it's insurance-linked — the buyer's insurer will commonly require a WETT inspection before binding coverage, which means the chimney gets examined twice, the second time by a specialist.

The buyer's play

1. Use the condition period for what it's for. General inspection first; if the home has any wood-burning appliance, book the WETT inspection inside the same window. You'll need proof of insurance to close, and the insurer will likely want the WETT anyway — do it while findings are still the seller's problem.
2. Convert photos into a number. Send the inspection excerpt to a mason and get a written quote. Every common finding lives on a known ladder — crown/cap $500–$1,500, repointing $1,000–$3,000, liner $2,000–$4,500, roofline rebuild $2,000–$5,000, full rebuild $3,000–$10,000+ (the cost page breaks down each). A quote pins the finding to one rung.
3. Negotiate the number, not the fear. Price reduction, vendor repair before closing, or a lawyer's holdback — all three work, and all three require the written quote. What doesn't work is asking for "something for the chimney" with no figure attached.
4. Mind the undisclosed-problem trap. A chimney issue you knew about and didn't surface to your insurer risks a denied claim later. Get it on paper now, whichever way the negotiation goes.

The seller's play

Fix the small stuff before listing. Crown repair, a cap, tidy repointing of the exposed stack — modest money that removes the most visible defect from every listing photo and every drive-by. It also deletes the easiest paragraph from the buyer's inspection report, which is worth more than the repair costs.

For big-ticket items, control the number. If the chimney genuinely needs a rebuild and season or timing won't let you complete it pre-sale, get the written quote anyway and attach it to your disclosure. It caps the conversation at the real figure — without it, the buyer's agent negotiates against their imagination, and imagination always quotes high. A completed rebuild with photos and invoices is cleaner still: it converts the worst line on the inspection into a selling point, particularly with a new liner and WETT-ready documentation behind it.

Don't cosmetically bury it. Paint over spalling or foam in a separation gap and two things happen: the inspector finds it anyway (they look for exactly this), and you've converted a repair conversation into a trust conversation. The second one is more expensive.

The winter-closing problem

New Brunswick deals close year-round; masonry cures above freezing. When a January closing meets a chimney that can't be rebuilt until May, the machinery is standard: a price reduction for the quoted amount, or a holdback — the lawyers retain funds until the scheduled spring work completes. Both are routine; both hinge on a firm written scope and price existing before firm-up. (Worth knowing: liner installations and caps can proceed in winter — sometimes the insurance-critical part of the fix doesn't have to wait for spring at all.)