Masonry repair
Sweep & inspection
Caps & crowns
Flue relining
Gas fireplace serviceLevel 1 sweep and inspection to the NFPA 211 annual standard - flue, crown, cap, and flashing checked and photographed
Chimney sweep logs do not sweep chimneys. They loosen some creosote - which then falls where a brush and vacuum still have to collect it.
Fast, Reliable Chimney Repair Across San Marcos
Chimney repair in San Marcos typically costs between $450 and $2,800 depending on what’s actually wrong, and most masonry repairs take a single day once we’re on site. If you’re seeing spalling brick, a rusted-out cap, or mortar joints turning to sand on your San Marcos home, we can usually get a technician out within 48 hours. The bigger question is whether the damage is cosmetic or structural, and that’s where our camera inspection changes everything. Call (361) 603-5116 and we’ll walk you through what to look for before we even schedule a visit.
Why Hadley Chimney Austin Is San Marcos’s Preferred Chimney Repair Company
Hadley Chimney Austin has been repairing chimneys since 2003, and the San Marcos homes we work on run the full range: 1920s bungalows near the historic districts, 1960s ranches on the east side, and newer builds in the western subdivisions. Every technician who shows up in San Marcos is background-checked, uniformed, and tracked the same way you’d track a rideshare, so you know who’s coming and when. That’s The Relay Visibility Guarantee, and it applies to a $150 cap installation the same way it applies to a $2,500 flue resurfacing.
What separates us in San Marcos specifically is that we don’t treat this as a satellite market. The clay tile liners, the moisture problems, the rental inspection compliance issues: our crews see these every week. When you call for Chimney Repair, you talk to a live person, not a queue. When we arrive, you get a written price before any work starts, and photos after every step. Cory Mitchell leads the team, and the standing rule under his watch is simple: no recommendation without camera evidence you can see for yourself.
Styles & brands we work with





Chimney Masonry Repair in San Marcos
Chimney Masonry Repair in San Marcos usually means rebuilding deteriorated mortar joints, replacing spalled bricks, and sometimes rebuilding the top few courses of the chimney crown. The humid subtropical climate here makes masonry work a recurring need: moisture absorbs into brick and mortar, expands during the rare hard freeze, and pops the face off bricks over time. In San Marcos, a mortar repointing job on a typical single-story home runs $800 to $1,600, while a full top section rebuild will land between $1,800 and $3,200.
Repointing and Tuckpointing
When the mortar between bricks crumbles out, water gets behind the brick face and accelerates the damage. We grind out the failed joints to a proper depth and pack in fresh mortar matched to your existing color and profile. On San Marcos homes with heritage brick, we use a lime-forward mix that moves with the house instead of fighting it.
Spalling Brick and Crown Repair
Spalled brick means the face of the brick has popped off, usually from trapped moisture. We cut out the damaged brick, replace it, and then address the source: a cracked crown, missing cap, or failed flashing. A new poured concrete crown with proper overhang costs $600 to $1,100 in the San Marcos market.
Chimney Cap Installation in San Marcos
Chimney Cap Installation in San Marcos is one of the highest-ROI repairs you can make, especially given how much rain this area gets. A stainless steel or copper cap keeps rain from dumping directly onto your flue liner, your damper, and your firebox, and it stops animals from nesting in the stack. Most San Marcos homes need a standard single-flue cap with a spark arrestor, which installed runs $350 to $600. A multi-flue cap or a custom copper cap with a larger footprint will push that to $700 to $1,200.
Olympia Caps and Custom Sizing
We stock Olympia Chimney caps in the most common San Marcos flue sizes, so a standard installation is usually same-visit once we’re on the roof. For odd-sized flues or multi-flue stacks on older east-side homes, we measure and order a custom cap. The wait is a week or two, and it’s worth it: a correctly sized cap is what interrupts the moisture cycle that feeds spalling and liner damage.
Animal and Debris Protection
Raccoons and squirrels find San Marcos chimneys appealing year-round, and a cap with proper screening is the only real deterrent. We’ve pulled everything from bird nests to mummified squirrels out of uncapped flues. The cap also keeps leaves from the pecan and oak trees down near the river from accumulating on your smoke shelf.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Marcos
We install and work with materials from HeatShield, Gelco, and Olympia Chimney, because these are the products that hold up under San Marcos humidity and the thermal shock of occasional hot fires. Using HeatShield for flue resurfacing instead of a full liner tear-out saves San Marcos homeowners thousands, and when we do install a liner, we use DuraFlex flexible stainless systems sized to the existing flue. Parts for these brands are stocked on our trucks for the most common San Marcos repairs, which shortens turnaround when you’re trying to get a rental unit inspection-ready.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Chimney Repair Problems We See in San Marcos Homes
- Cracked clay tile flue liners on 1960s and 1970s east-side homes. The original terracotta liners can’t handle the thermal stress of a hot fire after months of no use, and the cracks open a direct path for heat to reach framing. A Chim-Scan camera inspection is the only way to see this before it becomes a fire.
- Moisture-driven spalling on older brick chimneys near the historic districts. Humid air, heavy rain, and old mortar combine to pop brick faces and erode crowns, and once water gets inside the masonry, every freeze cycle makes it worse.
- Hardened second-degree creosote in decorative-only fireplaces. San Marcos has a lot of fireplaces that get lit twice a year, and those sporadic burns produce creosote that hardens into a glaze. This has to be mechanically removed before any liner repair can be safely evaluated.
- Scored flue walls in newer prefabricated chimneys. Some west-side subdivision homes get swept with wire brushes meant for masonry chimneys, which scores the metal flue and voids the manufacturer’s warranty. We use the correct brushes and document flue condition with photos before and after every sweep.
Pricing for Chimney Repair in San Marcos, TX
A standard chimney sweep in San Marcos runs $185 to $275. A mortar repointing job on a typical single-story masonry chimney runs $800 to $1,600. Chimney cap installation with a standard stainless cap runs $350 to $600 installed. A full HeatShield resurfacing of a cracked clay flue liner in the San Marcos market runs $1,200 to $2,100. A complete top-section rebuild with new crown and cap typically lands between $1,800 and $3,200. What changes the price most is access: a steep roof on Post Road or a two-story chimney on a hill off Lime Kiln Road costs more in labor and safety setup than a single-story on a flat lot. Every estimate from Chimney Repair in San Marcos includes a written quote before work starts. Call (361) 603-5116 and we’ll give you a range over the phone before we even book the visit.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Marcos
Hadley Chimney Austin serves San Marcos and the surrounding communities, including Lockhart, Buda, Austin, and Manor. If your chimney sits in one of those areas, you still get the same written pricing, camera documentation, and 365-Day Done Right Promise. Dispatch is coordinated from our Austin office, and crews make the drive to San Marcos every week.
Serving San Marcos, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Marcos area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Chimney Repair in San Marcos
Yes, for one specific reason: decorative fireplaces in San Marcos still collect creosote from occasional use, and more importantly, their flues are often hiding cracks that no one has ever looked for. A Level 2 inspection is a camera scan of the flue interior, and in San Marcos, it’s the only way to see whether your decorative fireplace is safe to burn or whether it’s been venting into your attic. Rental properties and home sales in San Marcos also commonly require this inspection. Call (361) 603-5116 to book one, and we’ll show you the footage on-site.
Cracked clay tile liners can often be repaired with a HeatShield resurfacing, which costs far less than a rebuild and restores a smooth, insulated flue surface. The full rebuild is only necessary when the surrounding masonry has failed structurally; a cracked liner alone does not justify tearing down the chimney. We verify the exact condition with a Chim-Scan camera and show you the crack before recommending anything.
San Marcos’s humid subtropical climate means your chimney brick and mortar absorb moisture from the air even when it isn’t raining, and that moisture works its way behind the brick face. When it gets cold, the water freezes and expands, popping brick faces and opening hairline cracks that then let in more water. Over years, this cycle reaches the interior flue, accelerating liner deterioration and creating a fire hazard hidden behind the masonry. Waterproofing with a vapor-permeable sealant is the standard fix, and it runs $400 to $800 for a typical San Marcos single-story chimney.
Repointing is one type of masonry repair, limited to grinding out and replacing the mortar joints. Full masonry repair also covers replacing spalled bricks, rebuilding the crown, repairing the smoke chamber, and addressing structural cracks in the brickwork. Repointing typically runs $800 to $1,600 in San Marcos; a full top-section rebuild with crown work runs $1,800 to $3,200. We’ll show you exactly which category your chimney falls into with photos before any work begins.
Yes. A proper stainless cap or copper cap stops rain from entering the flue directly, which is the single biggest input into moisture-driven spalling, crown cracking, and liner damage in San Marcos. Without a cap, every repair you make is fighting a cycle of water intrusion that the next heavy rain will restart. We pair cap installation with most of our San Marcos masonry repairs because it’s the lowest-cost way to protect the more expensive work. Call (361) 603-5116 for a cap quote, and we’ll have it written before we leave the driveway.
Written by Cory Mitchell, Owner of Hadley Chimney Austin, serving San Marcos since 2003.