Condition of masonry

[Ctwoodtick]

I keep saying that I’m going to redo the crown of my chimney soon, but I’ll definitely be doing that before this coming burning season. I just went up to take a look at the condition of the machine overall and to see if I needed to put any silicone in any areas around the current crown. I noticed this crack in the mortar joint in between the bricks and was curious if this is something that can be handled by repointing the area or if there is something more that would need to get done. What’s in the picture was the only area I saw this condition. The rest of the chimney joints look like the better part of what is pictured.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I keep saying that I’m going to redo the crown of my chimney soon, but I’ll definitely be doing that before this coming burning season. I just went up to take a look at the condition of the machine overall and to see if I needed to put any silicone in any areas around the current crown. I noticed this crack in the mortar joint in between the bricks and was curious if this is something that can be handled by repointing the area or if there is something more that would need to get done. What’s in the picture was the only area I saw this condition. The rest of the chimney joints look like the better part of what is pictured.

You probably need to leave it be as is. It is very difficult to repoint and make it match. At some point a certain section would need to be rebuilt or taken down permanently. I had masonry guys remove all the brick from an old oil chimney below the soffits. I tried to repoint some missing joints on the remaining, but it's not easy to keep the mortar off the bricks and match it.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Thank for the input. So water isn’t leaking in, should I just put some silicone on it?

 

[bholler]

Thank for the input. So water isn’t leaking in, should I just put some silicone on it?

It needs pointed

 

[Ctwoodtick]

OK, sounds good. I’m not incredibly worried about the mortar being a little bit off compared to the rest.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Thank for the input. So water isn’t leaking in, should I just put some silicone on it?

No, either spend the money for repointing or leave it. I would just leave it.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

It needs pointed

Thank you. Aside from the obvious crack in the joint in the pic, how does the mortar in the intact part look to you? House is 50 yrs old and I’m guessing it’s the original mortar.

 

[BigJ273]

Thank for the input. So water isn’t leaking in, should I just put some silicone on it?

I wouldn’t use silicone. If u ever needed to repoint it in the future the silicone would be a mess to work with on the brick. I’d just repoint it. That’s a very small area. Should be pretty simple.

 

[BigJ273]

Thank you. Aside from the obvious crack in the joint in the pic, how does the mortar in the intact part look to you? House is 50 yrs old and I’m guessing it’s the original mortar.

It looks ok to me. Honestly, a few years back I had my chimney mortar and crown redone. The mason drilled out all the old mortar down to the roof line and repointed it. Then put a new crown on. I was surprised it was only $2k. That may seem like a lot, but it came out really good and revitalized the chimney. He also had to replace the top five rows of brick because they were so deteriorated. He also acid washed the brick and sealed it with sealer. He was there for 5 days working on it so I figured it was a good price.

 

[bholler]

Thank you. Aside from the obvious crack in the joint in the pic, how does the mortar in the intact part look to you? House is 50 yrs old and I’m guessing it’s the original mortar.

It doesn't look bad. If that is the only crack you can ignore it. But if there are more no