I asked my chimney sweep to take a look at the flashing around my chimney, he said it all looked fine, but suggested that the water that is leaking in around the chimney is likely coming in through the pourus brick itself. he suggested sealing it with a brush on or spray on product to seal the brick. I've searched online for such products and havent been able to find much other than this stuff called DEFY Water Repellent for Brick. they have a water based and a solvent based product for the same thing. it is a modified siloxane based product for sealing most masonry and concrete pores. Is this the right kind of product to use on my chimney? I have an A frame cabin and the chimney is in the center of the building so it only penetrates the building near the peak. It is hard to get up there even by ladder. does anyone have experience with this type of product or can you reccomend any other product? thanks.

I got a bid for a foundation on a room addition. The quote is $8100 for a 5 sack mix, all the rebar and bolts, forms, and excavation. Since this is over crawlspace there is an additional 3 yards of dirt that needs to be excavated as well. It's about 70 linear feet for the foundation. The footing is 12x8" and the stem wall is 16x6". There are two tie in points that the new foundation will attach to the existing foundation via epoxied rebar. This ends up being about 4yrds of concrete and only 70 feet of forms. Maybe my expectations are totally out of whack, but this feel high. Am I off base? Thanks-