We're getting ready for winter, and on the weekend cleaned the grout on the brick chimney (where the sun never hits directly, we get moss every year). We found a few areas under dried moss where there are cracks in the grout, and in a couple of places small holes where the grout has crumbled and fallen out. One of them is directly under the roof dripline. Last year we had some dampness on a few interior fireplace bricks, and some efflorescence in that area, and think that's where the water is getting in. It's had a long, hot summer to thoroughly dry. My question is this: Is this an OK thing for a homeowner to try to fix, or do we need a professional? We've cleaned away the bad areas with a wire brush and removed the dust. I found a product in a tube that fits into a caulking gun. The label says it's for exterior grout, masonry, stucco, etc. It's gray, flexible, and paintable. Would there be any problem using that to fill holes in the exterior chimney grout, or is there a better way to fix this? As always, thanks in advance for any advice.

I need to know how far the chicken wire need to be from the tar paper, the paper I have has the chicken wire on it already. can I staple the wire and paper to the side of the shed, or do I have to use fern nails or specal nails and keep the chicken wire a distance from the paper?