Spalled bricks towards the top of chimney

[PingSpike]

My house has two chimneys, one currently isn't used but I'm going to buy a wood stove for it this summer. The house was built in 1988, so I think it has the clay liner and should be ready to go (has a hearth and a flu hole in the family room).

When I bought the house, there were a few bricks on the upper part of both chimneys that had a little bit of spalling. I didn't think much of it at the time, and the home inspector didn't say anything either. But this spring I think, the spalling has gotten a bit worse on the secondary chimney. Its right above where the roof line is for the most part, a concentration of several bricks on one side is the worst part.

The place where my home is can get fairly windy, so that might be a concern...but from some limited reading this seems to usually be caused by using shoddy bricks at the time of construction. The mortar seems to remain intact.

I guess my question is...how expensive is this to fix and how long can/should I ignore it? I have a guy coming to do chimney inspection next week, and for all I know this isn't a pressing concern.

Also...I'm not likely to need a new liner or anything for my chimney am I?

 

[marvdmartian]

Pingspike, not sure what you mean by spalling of the bricks, so not sure what to tell you about that problem. So far as the liner, you should definitely ask your chimney inspector (hopefully, he's also a certified repairman, or at least, a certified chimney sweep?) about your concerns, especially with the flue liner. Being built in 88, it's just as likely to be clay as metallic, tho having brick on the outside, I'd lean more toward a clay liner.

If the liner is in need of repair, and especially since you're talking about putting in a stove, ask whether it's more economical to put a flue pipe inside the chimney, versus having the original (clay) flue repaired. That's not uncommon, as the modern day metallic flue pipes satisfy the code requirements by themselves. Putting them up through an original clay lined chimney just hides the metal flue, and makes it more pleasing to the eye. Plus it keeps you from having to dish out the high dollar amount it can run you to have repairs done on a clay lined chimney.

Definitely, pick the brain of your inspector while you have them out to your house. I'm sure you're paying a goodly amount for the inspection, get your money's worth. If the inspector doesn't do repairs, ask them if they'll recommend a local person for the repairs, and make certain that person is certified to do the repairs.

Good luck!

 

[db]

Do you have freezing weather where you live?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

most likely water is freezing and causing the spalling if you live in a cold climate. May be a flashing issue, or if the house is old, may just be somewhat normal

 

[skyking]

there is a mortar cap with bevels on it, designed to keep standing water off the top course.
It sounds like that mud is gone and allowing water to build up in the top courses.

 

[PingSpike]

Well, I got a guy to come out and look at it...said he would only charge me $50 since he just started up and it was just an inspection. (The other place, who I originally was scheduled, but some how screwed up and didn't have me on the board wanted $120-170 dollars) I found him off the chimney sweep certified website. From reading elsewhere, everything he said made sense. The flu and liner look great he says, never been used.

From the looks of it, the spalling on the outside is probably caused by the mortar cap having a crack or two in it, which he showed me after he took some digital pictures. It actually had a little moss growing in it, furthering the idea. Some space up from the roof might be contributing to it. He said they can put a coating on the chimney cap to reseal for something like $75? And a water proofing of the above roofline portion would be like $250-$350 (I can't remember).

He says the spalling isn't to terrible though. Most of the bricks could probably be refaced, or covered with a matched mortar (which may not look super great, since its not actually brick and its hard to get the color right). Only 2-3 probably need replacing. At any rate, he doesn't think its going to fall over or anything, and its not bad enough that you'd have to break down the whole chimney to the roof line and rebuild.

I asked him to work up a quote to fix the whole thing. I figure if its to expensive I'll at least have him reseal the cap and save up for the rest.

 

[Stifko]

How did he look at the flue? Did he drop a camera down the chimney? That is the only real way to check the condition of the flue, I thought.

 

[PingSpike]

He just used some mirrors and a flash light. It is only a one story chimney though.

 

[Stifko]

what is brick spalling anyway? they need to be repointed?

 

[PingSpike]

Isn't repointing replacing the mortar? I might be using the wrong term, but I don't think I am. More or less, the bricks themselves are falling apart...probably due to freeze/thaw.

 

[Stifko]

yes pointing bricks is grinding out some of the mortar and replacing it with fresh mortar.

I dunno what it is called when the bricks fall apart themselves, so maybe it is spalling.