There is significant spalling on the 3′ of brickwork of a chimney as it passess through the attic of a client’s 80-year old home — at least a 1/4 inch of many of the brick faces have turned to dust. (The exterior of the chimney, above the roof, is in decently good shape.)
I think the root cause of this has been a bathroom fan that vented directly into the attic, and therefore placed a significant amount of moisture in the area. This has been repaired, and vented to the exterior.
My original thought was to simply scrape the loose debris off the damaged brick and stucco over it. But now I’m having second thoughts as to whether this is the right solution. I’d like to avoid having to replace the bricks if possible, unless of course this is the only solution. If parging or stucco would be satisfactory, then could anyone recommend a specific masonry product for this application?
Thanks.
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Parging should be an acceptable solution. I would be more concerned with why it happened. Make sure it's not an internal problem. Any spalling above the roof line?
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No, like I said, the area above the roof is in decent shape. (Perhaps a bit tuck pointing needed, but nothing major.) The major damage is contained within the 3 foot area of the attic crawlspace.
Unfortunetly the chimney needs to be rebuilt, parging needs something solid to stick to. You'll likely find a cracked/boken flue liner, or disconnected metal liner if the furnace has been updated, or the furnace was upgraded and a liner wasn't installed. There is no connection (or there shouldn't be) between the attic and the chimney. More info required chimney serves fpl, furnace, ??? clay tile lined, metal, abs?