Yes, it is best that the cracks be repaired. Open cracks will allow water to get in and freeze, furthering the damage. But, it's not critically important that it be done immediately. The chimney appears to be in pretty good/sound condition but the cracks won't heal themselves and will only get worse with time.
No harm in trying. You going get mortar and a brick pointing tool. The best thing to do is to remove the existing mortar then replace it.
The cracking brick concerns me. How old is the house or at least the chimney? If it's been like that for the life of the house then no major concern. But if those cracked bricks are fairly recent then a settling issue may be at hand. You might want to have the tiles inside the chimney checked.
@Norm - the house is approx 30 years old. We haven’t been here long but the cracks caught my eye today - hard to remember if they were that prominent before but they look larger. I’m prone to overthinking these things, though.
I haven’t seen other signs of settling issues - no cracks elsewhere, door issues, leaks etc, however I’ve read the chimney could have its own settling issues if it’s on it’s own foundation.
The idea of it being a house foundation issue has got me sweatin now!
Last edited by Dbl_dbl; 06-15-21 at 01:19 PM.
Reason: More info added.
Yes, repairing the cracks is very much a DIY project if you have the ladder or scaffolding to safely work at height. There are many websites and videos that can show you how it's done. You use a angle grinder to clean the old mortar out of the cracked areas. Mix up your mortar. Spray some water into the crack areas you cleaned out. Then tuck/pack or squirt mortar into the joint and finish the surface.
Since these repairs will be visible I would get some mortar mix and make a small batch and give it the same surface finish as your chimney's joints and let it harden. Then you can see it's color to determine if a easy to use bagged mix looks good enough or if you want to get into mixing your own recipe to get a closer color match.
[color=#383a3b]Hi[/color]
[color=#383a3b]I’m ripping out some old walkway to install 2 3/8” pavers over 3” of “road base” gravel (is supposed to compact well) and 1” of sand. I’m going to compact everything as well as I can with a hand tamper. The pavers are a mix of 12x18, 12x12 and 6x12”. [/color]
[color=#383a3b]Im reading that pros expect pavers to move down around 3/8” after they run a mechanical tamper over them.[/color]
[color=#383a3b]I want to get the height right so they aren’t a tripping hazard but also not so low that they will be below the grass.[/color]
[color=#383a3b]Should I expect 3/8” settling over time or more as I’m only hand compacting or less as I’m only using 3” of gravel?[/color]
[color=#383a3b]Also is there a good height I should be shooting for in reference to the grass?[/color]
[color=#383a3b]Thanks for your help.[/color]
Hello all,
We are considering buying a bungalow in Chicago, and noticed there has been previous separation in the front porch brick. Should I be concerned? The seller completely rehabbed the home and mentioned they underpinned the entire foundation for structural support. Does this make sense? Should I be concerned about this long term? The separation is most noticeable in the brick at the top of the porch. We took a level to the exterior (sidewalk) side and everything seems to be leveled.
Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated.
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06-15-21, 09:53 AM
