I've recently had the faces of some of the brick on my masonry chimney popping off, but no other problems-- no water leaking, or anything else visible. I had a guy come out and take a look. He gave me four options:
1) Tear the whole thing down and rebuild it. He said there's no way to completely resolve this issue without starting over with higher quality brick, though he didn't recommend it and didn't even provide an estimate.
2) Resurface the crown with "flexible cement." He said this is pretty much a must as the existing crown is deteriorating and is the source of most of the water. "Flexible cement" sounds a bit scammy to me... but I'm no mason, so I'd love some input.
3) Apply a heavy dose of "industrial grade water repellant." He says it's his opinion that the brick was never sealed in any way. It was built before I moved in 10 years ago, and I certainly never sealed it.
4) Cut out and replace the damaged bricks.
He said if it were his house, he'd go with 2) & 3), and redo 3) every 5-8 years, but adding 4) would make it hold up a bit better. He also said 4) wouldn't eliminate the need for a periodic redo of 3), or the occasional brick face popping off.
I'm inclined to go with his recommendation... it's not every day you hear a guy say "You probably shouldn't do all the stuff I proposed." What do y'all think?
1) Tear the whole thing down and rebuild it. He said there's no way to completely resolve this issue without starting over with higher quality brick, though he didn't recommend it and didn't even provide an estimate.
2) Resurface the crown with "flexible cement." He said this is pretty much a must as the existing crown is deteriorating and is the source of most of the water. "Flexible cement" sounds a bit scammy to me... but I'm no mason, so I'd love some input.
3) Apply a heavy dose of "industrial grade water repellant." He says it's his opinion that the brick was never sealed in any way. It was built before I moved in 10 years ago, and I certainly never sealed it.
4) Cut out and replace the damaged bricks.
He said if it were his house, he'd go with 2) & 3), and redo 3) every 5-8 years, but adding 4) would make it hold up a bit better. He also said 4) wouldn't eliminate the need for a periodic redo of 3), or the occasional brick face popping off.
I'm inclined to go with his recommendation... it's not every day you hear a guy say "You probably shouldn't do all the stuff I proposed." What do y'all think?