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Chimney Repair · Ajax

Chimney Repair in Ajax

Ajax was built in a hurry — first for the wartime plant workers, then for everyone who followed — and its oldest chimneys have stood in the lake wind ever since. We repair and rebuild them, backed by a 2-year workmanship warranty.

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[IMAGE: brickaid-chimney-ajax-hero.jpg — chimney repair on a 1940s wartime brick home in south Ajax, lake in the background, 4:3]
A town built in wartime

Ajax’s first chimneys are as old as the town itself.

Ajax exists because of a munitions plant: the town grew out of the wartime works, and the workers’ houses that came with it still stand in the south end and around Pickering Village. Those 1940s brick homes are into their ninth decade, and their chimneys — short, stout and never far from Lake Ontario’s wind — are overdue almost by definition. The subdivisions that followed through Applecroft and Southwood are younger, but the shoreline gusts that funnel up from Duffins Bay don’t check the build date.

Our Durham crew — the same team on our Pickering masonry contractor page — covers Ajax top to bottom, and every chimney gets the standard we set on our Toronto chimney repair and rebuilds: honest diagnosis, matched materials, and the fix in writing.

What's included

  • Free on-site inspection anywhere in Ajax
  • Repointing matched to 1940s wartime brick
  • Crown recasting, rain caps and storm collars
  • Wind-rated caps for lakefront streets
  • Partial and full rebuilds from the roofline up
  • Capping and safe decommissioning of unused flues
  • 2-year workmanship warranty, in writing

When an Ajax chimney is asking for help

Between old brick and lake wind, these come up most.

01

Grit on the shingles below the stack

Sand and mortar crumbs washing onto the roof are the joints emptying themselves. On a wartime chimney that process started years before anyone noticed.

02

The stack hums or whistles in a south wind

Gaps big enough to sing are gaps big enough to soak. Wind noise from the chimney means open joints or a failed cap, and both invite the next storm inside.

03

Patch jobs that didn’t hold

A lot of Ajax chimneys wear smears of roofing tar or caulk from past quick fixes. If the leak came back, the problem was never the surface — it’s the crown, the flashing or the joints underneath.

Our Work

The work, before and after

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Double chimney stacks stripped and rebuilt
Double stacks stripped and rebuilt as one job
New chimney crown poured and weathered in
New crown poured, capped and weathered in
Wartime chimney taken down to sound courses
Halfway point: original brick down to sound courses
Where we work

Chimney repair across Ajax

From the wartime streets by the lake to the newest corners north of Taunton, all of Ajax is inside our regular Durham route. South of Bayly, ask us about wind-rated caps — that stretch takes the roughest weather in town.

Pickering VillageApplecroftDuffins BaySouthwoodLakesideNottingham

Ajax chimney questions, answered

Minor work — repointing, a new cap, crown patching — stays in the hundreds-to-low-thousands range. A full rebuild above the roofline is typically $5,000 to $10,000 depending on height and how the roof is framed. Quotes are free, on-site and itemized.
That’s the goal. The 1940s brick in south Ajax and Pickering Village has a character worth keeping, and we source reclaimed or matched brick rather than dropping a modern-looking patch onto an eighty-year-old house.
It changes the spec. On exposed Ajax streets we use mechanically fastened stainless caps, full-depth joints and crowns with a proper overhang, because a repair that would survive fine in a sheltered suburb gets tested harder here.
It’s worth a look. A damp creosote smell usually means water is getting into the flue — a failed crown or missing cap — and the fix is far cheaper before the freeze-thaw season multiplies the damage.
Our crews are in Durham every week, so inspections usually book within days rather than weeks. If brick is falling or the stack has moved, say so when you call and we’ll bump you up the route.
Keep exploring

More from Brick Aid Masonry

One crew, one quote, one warranty across all of it.

Eighty years of lake wind. Time for a once-over.

Free on-site quote anywhere in Ajax, wind-rated materials where the street needs them, and a 2-year workmanship warranty.