Replacing the roof, wondering whether the masonry chimney needs the support bar in the photo. The chimney is plumb and in good structural condition, 18″x36″ or so and rises about 12 feet above the roof. The house is over 115 years old. My feeling is that if it were ever going to lean it would have already. And if it were going to come down, a lag bolt isn’t going to stop it.

 

So the big question is, can I just remove this support and still sleep well at night? And if not, how do I seal/flash this adequately? The roofer said they would usually just glob a bunch of sealant behind it and drive a lag through it into some blocking. I can imagine making a piece of flashing that would tuck under the course above this to divert most of the water it will see, and hope that the sealant stops the rest. The underside of the roof will soon be sprayed with closed cell foam so I’ve got to get this right or I won’t know it’s a problem until something rots.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.