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Simple do-it-yourself maintenance can put your chimney back in good shape. But working on damaged rooftops is dangerous; hence, in the case of severe damage that extends to your roof members, North Dublin Roofing is a group of professional roofers that can help put your roof back in shape so that you can safely repair your damaged chimney.
Follow the following instructions to repair your brick chimney.
1. Retouch your chimney mortar
Over time when the mortar that holds bricks begins to crumble, it is time to retouch it. Doing retouching to the mortar that holds the bricks of your chimney involves the removal of crumbled mortar (i.e loosened mortar) all around the bricks with a joint raker.
And after this, you will mix new mortar in the appropriate cement, sand, and water ratio necessary for the mortar to have the stiffness to hold your bricks.
Using your trowel press in a portion of the newly mixed mortar into the open joints between bricks. Use a tuckpointing tool to smoothen the edges of the mended joints. After all, clean up drops of mortar on the chimney crown.
2. Clean round the Flue and the Crown
After some seasons, there could be debris and gaps around the joint that connect the flue and the crown of your chimney. Through this gap, water can run down the side of the fue and into the internal surroundings of your building.
When you have noticed this, use a wire brush to clean up the debris and discover any probable gaps there. Then use your caulk gun and a high-heat mortar to fill the gaps.
3. Patch Cracks Around the Chimney Crown
Small cracks around the large crown can later become larger and provide a way for water and debris and are even more dangerous as they can lead to the total collapse of the chimney.
At the stage of large cracks, you can simply repair them with pre-mixed mortar. Spread the mixed mortar along the cracks and force it into the cracks with a putty knife. Smoothen the surface with a trowel.
4. Patch Hairline Cracks
Hairline cracks are tiny cracks that are sometimes referred to as spider cracks. Before they generate into larger ones, get them fixed, preferably, with sealant. Hairline cracks are treated differently from larger cracks because the gaps can not accommodate mortar as in the case of larger cracks. So what you will do is to use a masonry sealer which is used to make liquid such that it penetrates the tiny spaces and seals them up.
5. Repair Cracked Bricks
Another area of damage around your brick chimney is the bricks. So check individual bricks and identify the cracked ones. In case of cracks on the bricks, use a high-heat mortar to fill the cracks. Squeeze a portion of the high-heat mortal along the cracked lines and smoothen the surfaces with your gloved finger. In the case of hairline cracks, you can close them up with a masonry sealer and smoothen the surface with your gloved finger.
6. Replace Cracked Bricks
In the case of severe damage to the bricks rather than hairline cracks, it is best to remove them totally and replace them. It is possible to remove individual damaged bricks without harming others that are still intact.
First, use a screwdriver or a masonry chisel to remove the mortar around the damaged brick joints. You can make your work faster by drilling a hole through the mortar using a drill. Once you’ve removed the mortar, kindly pull out the bricks. Chisel out excess mortar from the sides of adjacent bricks. Once you’ve cleaned out the space, butter the four edges with mortar but exclude the face. Place the new bricks central and smoothen the surfaces.