When I called in a roofing contractor he said a cricket should be built on the roof line against the back of the chimney. Can you tell me what a cricket is, and do you think it is needed?

If your examination doesn't bear fruit, look at the back of the chimney. If it's wider than 16 inches or so, it should have a "cricket," a small, pitched roof behind the chimney, diverting the water.

No matter how much goop I put on the roof at the chimney, it always leaks after a year or two. Can you help me? A: What you need is a cricket, sometimes called a saddle, built behind the chimney to ...

At the end of the conversation she told me her Connecticut home has a roof leak seven or eight months out of the year. “The ceiling area near my brick chimney gets wet,” she said.