Case Study: Wobbly Chimney, Internal Damage.

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	Flues Not Tightly Stacked! You can see a gap below this flue. And broken bricks around the gap Furnace exhaust vapours wetted the exposed brick Then freezing caused the wet bricks to break, internally. This is a hidden reason for the chimney's weakness.
More Problems Below the roof line, hidden from view Clay bricks were used, without brick ties. So nothing was holding this chimney to the wall. And the tar paper didn't go all the way, either. The loose stack of bricks in the middle, under the chisel, added no strength.
	Engineer's Design These bars were tied into the 2nd floor ceiling joists. They would be cemented in between rows of bricks to hold the stack against the house. The homeowner was also an engineer and suggested filling the centre space with concrete, instead of replacing the loose bricks. We removed six more layers of central bricks and filled it with concrete.
Brick Ties Usually brick ties are spaced up to 18" apart. And are placed every third row. In this case we put them on every clay brick. We got new clay brick with large holes, to help connect one row with the next. You can see green, epoxy-coated rebar in the central concrete core we're creating for extra strength. And the tar paper has been fixed, protecting the wood.
	Re-Building the Chimney We've replaced about half the bricks, due to internal damage not visible before the job.
Almost done Nearly finished, the joints are smooth, the lines are straight. We've used the S type cement recommended by the engineer.
	Done A metal cap surrounds the one remaining flue with sealant. It has a snug fit to the chimney and flue, and adhesive underneath. The roof has been protected with a dropcloth.

This page last modified: August 2014