For owners of historic North Shore homes, the fear of an invisible chimney leak is often outweighed by the high cost and safety risk of hiring a mason just to set up a 40-foot ladder for an initial inspection
ZeroLadder was called to a majestic Tudor-style estate in Winnetka where a small water stain had appeared in the attic near the hearth.[1] The chimney was a complex, multi-flue structure soaring nearly 40 feet above a steeply pitched slate roof—a height that standard home inspectors often refuse to climb. We executed a “Close-Orbit” mission, hovering our 4K inspection drone inches from the concrete chimney crown. We systematically scanned the entire masonry surface, looking for freeze-thaw fractures, spalling brickwork, and the hairline cracks in the crown cap that allow water to bypass the flashing. Our drone’s high-shutter speed and macro-lens captured the exact width and depth of three major fissures that were physically impossible to see from the driveway, even with high-powered binoculars
We delivered a folder of ultra-clear, zoomable images that the homeowner emailed directly to a local Winnetka mason. This allowed the mason to provide a fixed-price, accurate remote quote for a crown resurfacing without ever charging a “house call” fee or risking a worker on the precarious slate roof
