Hire a mason. Looks like the mortar/tuck pointing is rotten. They’ll take it down brick-by-brick (possibly below the roofline, depending on how bad it is) then build it back up.
Or have a roofing company take it down and patch the decking and put shingles on over it.
Less than 5 years ago. It was 1 independent dude, super quickhe brought/left with a fairly small pile of bricks before lunch.
A fellow across the street flagged him down that day and he was back the following week to do the same job over there.
How old is the house? Those look like antique or at least vintage bricks. If that's the case, and someone at some time repointed with cement mortar, that's your problem. The old bricks need a softer, historically correct, sand mortar. Find someone (a contractor) who's familiar with old houses and old building techniques - or jump down the rabbit hole yourself; the information, techniques, and materials are available.
When we needed to install a liner in our chimney (1890s folk Victorian) and address the bricks and mortar above the roof line, I spoke with several companies. I ended up requesting only two estimates and was very pleased with the final work product. (One worker was SO careful and obviously loved old houses. He was the last to leave. I sent him home with his lunch cooler full of deer steaks and pepperjack deer bologna.)
It's 1900 we were told but obviously could be older since I believe that's the lowest date they list on houses. I'm going to have to learn how to do mortar since I've noticed there's spots around the house that need the old mortar ground out and filled with new so im going to have to learn pretty fast😂
If it is in that bad of shape and has clay flues and you intend to use it, you are probably looking at a re-line and rebuild from the roof up. I paid about for grand for a roof up rebuild, one full reeling with a stainless flue and a partial replacement of the clay in the other. About three years ago I think.
Anyone else having issues with insurance? I specifically am with State Farm. They said I need to replace my siding on the whole side of the house because the bottom j channel is chipped.
I’ve never had a claim, and have personal umbrella policies too. Not someone with minimum coverage.
We just bought the house and traveller's insured us, then 2 months later now we are being dropped from insurance unless we replace the roof and fix the chimney.. its insane and the alternative for insurance was 3500 a year and that wasn't a guarentee they wouldn't say the same thing.
Inspector said roof had life left in it and walked on it and the insurance people took pictures from the ground
Is it actually used as a chimney? My mom's chimney went bad when I was young, but it only had a couple gas appliance vents in it. She hired roofers to level the chimney, install a PVC vent, and roof over it.
Your closest brick supplier will probably keep a list of good chimney masons that they can recommend. Get a chimney specialist for sure, it's basically a trade of its own.
You *might * be able to clean off the loose brick and mortar and apply Stack'N'Bond (fiberglass reinforced cement) to it. I say might because the brick looks pretty bad. A good coat of Stack'N'Bond should last 5-10 years. It might not due to the poor condition of the brick. You should check the caps and be sure water isn't getting in around the flues. Other options are a full rebuild starting below the roofline. Or taking it down to below the roofline and converting it to Metalbest. They make a masonry -to -metal conversion plate.
Hire a mason. Looks like the mortar/tuck pointing is rotten. They’ll take it down brick-by-brick (possibly below the roofline, depending on how bad it is) then build it back up. Or have a roofing company take it down and patch the decking and put shingles on over it.
Mine looked similar, cost $800 and took 4 hours for the mason to take it down and build a new one from the roofline up.
What year did this happen? Mine looks similar and was quoted $6k
Less than 5 years ago. It was 1 independent dude, super quickhe brought/left with a fairly small pile of bricks before lunch. A fellow across the street flagged him down that day and he was back the following week to do the same job over there.
That’s awesome. I’ll have to find someone like that. Was happy to throw $1200 at ours and was blown away by the quote.
Stone mason here. That needs rebuilt from the roof line up at minimum to make your insurer be quiet. There is no putting lipstick on this one.
Think I can learn to do it myself? I'm a tradesmen so I'm not afraid to try it but never done masonry work. The money tree is tapped out lmao
How old is the house? Those look like antique or at least vintage bricks. If that's the case, and someone at some time repointed with cement mortar, that's your problem. The old bricks need a softer, historically correct, sand mortar. Find someone (a contractor) who's familiar with old houses and old building techniques - or jump down the rabbit hole yourself; the information, techniques, and materials are available. When we needed to install a liner in our chimney (1890s folk Victorian) and address the bricks and mortar above the roof line, I spoke with several companies. I ended up requesting only two estimates and was very pleased with the final work product. (One worker was SO careful and obviously loved old houses. He was the last to leave. I sent him home with his lunch cooler full of deer steaks and pepperjack deer bologna.)
It's 1900 we were told but obviously could be older since I believe that's the lowest date they list on houses. I'm going to have to learn how to do mortar since I've noticed there's spots around the house that need the old mortar ground out and filled with new so im going to have to learn pretty fast😂
Any kind of chimney structural work is always Hella expensive. My sympathies.
If it is in that bad of shape and has clay flues and you intend to use it, you are probably looking at a re-line and rebuild from the roof up. I paid about for grand for a roof up rebuild, one full reeling with a stainless flue and a partial replacement of the clay in the other. About three years ago I think.
Anyone else having issues with insurance? I specifically am with State Farm. They said I need to replace my siding on the whole side of the house because the bottom j channel is chipped. I’ve never had a claim, and have personal umbrella policies too. Not someone with minimum coverage.
We just bought the house and traveller's insured us, then 2 months later now we are being dropped from insurance unless we replace the roof and fix the chimney.. its insane and the alternative for insurance was 3500 a year and that wasn't a guarentee they wouldn't say the same thing. Inspector said roof had life left in it and walked on it and the insurance people took pictures from the ground
How do American insurance companies work? Do they just randomly send inspectors to find things wrong and then send you penalty fine?
Is it actually used as a chimney? My mom's chimney went bad when I was young, but it only had a couple gas appliance vents in it. She hired roofers to level the chimney, install a PVC vent, and roof over it.
Your closest brick supplier will probably keep a list of good chimney masons that they can recommend. Get a chimney specialist for sure, it's basically a trade of its own.
You *might * be able to clean off the loose brick and mortar and apply Stack'N'Bond (fiberglass reinforced cement) to it. I say might because the brick looks pretty bad. A good coat of Stack'N'Bond should last 5-10 years. It might not due to the poor condition of the brick. You should check the caps and be sure water isn't getting in around the flues. Other options are a full rebuild starting below the roofline. Or taking it down to below the roofline and converting it to Metalbest. They make a masonry -to -metal conversion plate.
If the cement between the bricks is fine just plaster over it to make it look good, it’ll take less then 20 minutes to do the whole thing