Chimney Flashing Repair in Rancho Palos Verdes: Written Report, Licensed Technicians

A homeowner in Miraleste called us last spring after noticing faint brown stains on the ceiling near their living room fireplace. They were three weeks from listing. Their agent had already scheduled photos, and the disclosure packet was half-finished. The stains weren't dramatic, but they were new. The seller assumed it was a roof tile issue. Their roofer came out, walked the deck, and told them the tiles looked fine. He pointed at the chimney flashing and said they needed a chimney company. That's when we got the call. The seller's main concern was straightforward: would this delay escrow, and how bad was the damage behind the stucco?

We see this exact scenario play out across the Palos Verdes peninsula during pre-sale prep, especially in Palos Verdes Estates and along the Trump National corridor where many homes date to the 1970s and 1980s. Those original lead or galvanized step flashings have spent decades expanding and contracting through SoCal's dry-wet cycle. The joints pull away from mortar beds so gradually that you never notice until a buyer's inspector flags moisture intrusion or, like this seller, ceiling stains appear right before listing. For a pre-sale situation, the timeline matters as much as the fix. We scheduled the inspection for the following morning.

Our CSIA-certified inspector ran a Level 2 inspection per NFPA 211, which is the standard required during real estate transactions. The camera scan confirmed what we suspected: the counter flashing embedded in the mortar joints had separated by nearly a quarter inch on the uphill side. The step flashing beneath it was original galvanized steel, corroded at the bend points where water pools during rain. There was no cricket installed on the high side of the chimney, which meant rainwater sheeted directly against the back wall during every storm. The crown itself was intact. This was a flashing failure, not a crown problem, and that distinction saved the seller roughly $1,200 in unnecessary crown work another company had quoted.

We removed the old step and counter flashing, installed new aluminum step flashing with a proper kick-out diverter at the eave, and set new counter flashing into freshly cut reglets sealed with high-grade polyurethane. On the uphill side, we built a small cricket to redirect water away from the chimney-to-roof junction. The full repair took one day. The seller had a clean inspection report in hand before the buyer's inspector ever set foot on the property. No escrow delays, no renegotiation on price. If your Rancho Palos Verdes home is heading to market and you're not sure about your flashing condition, get ahead of it. A pre-listing flashing repair costs a fraction of the price concession a buyer will demand when their inspector finds water damage.