Monocacy Construction Inc

Monocacy Chimney is a company that gives CONTRACTORS A BAD REPUTATION! In 2010 our chimney sweep contractor told us bricks were loose at the top of our chimney. He noted the decorative brick at the top (the brick corbelling) was warped away from the lower chimney, threatening to collapse away from the chimney, falling to the ground. This was likely caused by water getting into the brick and mortar through the cracks in the concrete crown on top, meant to keep water from setting on the top course of bricks. The concrete crown wash on both chimneys was badly cracked and needed to be replaced. The Chimney Sweep gave us two contractor names, including Monocacy Chimney Care, Inc., owned by Chris Anderson. Monocacy promptly gave us a proposal / contract to complete the work, detailing their scope of work as follows: "Scaffold front chimney. Remove approximately ten courses of brick from top of chimney, hand-clean bricks and re-lay. Tuck point areas of chimney on roof side as needed. Install a new chimney crown wash. Remove scaffold, clean up work site, and remove all related debris. $1,460." "Scaffold second chimney. Install a new chimney crown wash. Remove scaffold, clean up work site, and remove all related debris. $475." Monocacy constructed their scaffolding and completed the work over two to three days, while we were away at work. At the end of the second or third day, another employee (also named Chris) left the invoice for $1,935, which we paid after a brief discussion with Chris, who assured us their work was excellent. I do not know why I did not require photos of the work completed. BIG MISTAKE on my part. I highly recommend having your contractor supply you with before and after photos of the work areas. Flash forward to January 12, 2016. On a very windy / rainy Tuesday night, our family (watching TV on the first floor) heard loud bangs coming from upstairs. We investigated, outside with flashlights and found 6+ bricks in the front yard, which caused the loud noises as they fell 10' onto our wood shake roof and rolled off the roof into the yard (landing 10' from the house.!) With the flashlight I saw bricks missing from the top brick "corbelling", and other bricks precariously balancing at the top of the chimney where they were close to falling. The next day I called Monocacy Chimney Care, and was told the owner, Chris Anderson would be out the next day about noon. Instead, a company mason (also named Chris), met me. He took pictures of the damaged chimney, but did not climb a ladder. I showed him their invoice from March 2010, which detailed the work.scope, as detailed in the 3rd and 4th paragraphs above. Chris noted the work was completed 6 years ago, so masonry problems were not surprising. He also argued they only re-laid 10 or so bricks - not ten courses as the contract / invoice said. (Note the contract specifies remove and re-lay ten courses of brick from top of chimney, which would typically include 10 rows of brick averaging 24-26 bricks per row (course) all the way around the chimney.) Chris promised to discuss with the owner - Chris Anderson and get back to me the next day. That was over a week ago and I have not heard back from them. Last Wednesday I scheduled two chimney masonry companies reviewed on Angies List for chimney repair proposals (MCP Chimney & Masonry and American Professional Chimney & Masonry Specialists). They were both performed comprehensive inspections of the chimneys from tops of 40' ladders and the roof before making their proposals. They both shook their head at the shoddy work performed by Monocacy, and opined the chimneys should not have had masonry problems if the work was done correctly in 2010. They noted the front chimney did not have a new concrete crown from 2010, but instead a liquid "mastic?" had been slurried onto the cracked concrete chimney cap, which they indicated is not the way the repairs should have been done. Bottom line - Monocacy Chimney & Masonry DID NOT MAKE THE REPAIRS TO MY CHIMNEYS THEY WERE PAID TO PERFORM IN 2010. They did extremely shoddy work. WARNING - DO NOT HIRE MONOCACY TO REPAIR YOUR CHIMNEY!

We are quite happy with it.