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>I have a fireplace chimney on my 28 year old two-story home. The chimney is attached to the family room (one-floor portion of the house) and was built using a “decorative” white-faced brick. This same brick is also used as an accent veneer on the front of the home and to build the fireplace in the family room.
>The problem I am currently addressing is the upper 8′ to 10′ of the chimney has been shedding the white face of the bricks for about 10 years. The lower (wider) portion of the chimney has also lost a few brick faces but probably less than 5 %. The upper part of the chimney has lost about 60 % of the brick faces and some bricks continue to delaminate once the face falls off.
>Two contractor estimates have been obtained – one wanted to rebuild the top of the chimney for $5,500. The other would “repair” the bricks for $500. and about a day’s effort. Neither of these estimates appealed to me – big surprise !!
>Is there some way to economically repair this chimney ?? I am thinking that vinyl siding on furring strips (over the brick chimney) may not look too bad after all – many newer homes use this to make a inexpensive flue. Or can a thin brick veneer be grouted over the upper portion of the chimney ?? Any suggestion short of digging $5,500 out of my pocket would be appreciated.
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You are kidding right? You have a fireplace chimney that has failed; is no longer safe and you are balking at spending a few bucks to rebuild it? That is so outlandish that this must be a troll. But, just in case it wasn't I just had to tell you: Rebuild the chimney before someone gets hurt or if you use the fireplace your house burns.
*Steve - Thanks for your concern about safety, but the fireplace is just a "white elephant". It was converted about five years ago to a vent-free natural gas log set. They look good and are easy to use.>The more substancial repair estimate of $5,500 may seem insignificant to your budget - but I will explore a few more options before making such an expensive cosmetic repair. The $500 estimate from the other home repair contractor was probably a simple ripoff - which the BBB warns homeowners about. (Too many of these shysters lurk in newspaper want adds looking for suckers)>I may option to just remove the outside portion of the fireplace and not rebuild it.
*More likely that the $500 estimate was somebody without much experience who thought he could do a cheap quick repair and save you some money. He'll learn that doing it right is the only way to do anything.If the chimney isn't being used anymore, you could dismantle it yourself in a weekend.
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>I have a fireplace chimney on my 28 year old two-story home. The chimney is attached to the family room (one-floor portion of the house) and was built using a "decorative" white-faced brick. This same brick is also used as an accent veneer on the front of the home and to build the fireplace in the family room.
>The problem I am currently addressing is the upper 8' to 10' of the chimney has been shedding the white face of the bricks for about 10 years. The lower (wider) portion of the chimney has also lost a few brick faces but probably less than 5 %. The upper part of the chimney has lost about 60 % of the brick faces and some bricks continue to delaminate once the face falls off.
>Two contractor estimates have been obtained - one wanted to rebuild the top of the chimney for $5,500. The other would "repair" the bricks for $500. and about a day's effort. Neither of these estimates appealed to me - big surprise !!
>Is there some way to economically repair this chimney ?? I am thinking that vinyl siding on furring strips (over the brick chimney) may not look too bad after all - many newer homes use this to make a inexpensive flue. Or can a thin brick veneer be grouted over the upper portion of the chimney ?? Any suggestion short of digging $5,500 out of my pocket would be appreciated.