Chimney flashing on roof, small roof shine-through, and in-attic chimney mortar
#1
08-18-11, 09:02 PM
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: USA
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Chimney flashing on roof, small roof shine-through, and in-attic chimney mortar
I'm looking into a house built in 1923. The chimney has several visual issues:
1. Lack of flashing on the roof seal ... here are two pictures showing the flashing and how it's not sealed as one piece on the right and left side of the chimney:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/...bf4a1e1f_b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6083/...74fd37b5_b.jpg
So I went into the attic/crawl space, and looked up and of course noticed gaps with light shining through (where the flashing is supposed to cover) on the left and right side of roof where the chimney comes through:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6084/...72c732a9_b.jpg
^^^ If you look at the top left corner between the wood beam and the chimney, you can faintly see light shining through. You can't see the actual gap in the photo but there is a small gap, that's where the light is of course shining through. It's the same thing on the right side. The shingles aren't close enough to the chimney, and since the flashing is somehow off, the gap is happening.
Surprisingly, the attic is bone dry despite the fact that this flashing gap has probably been there for many years now. There are no animals in the attic, on a few dead bugs, and no visible animal droppings.
QUESTION: Is there is a simple solution to closing the gap from the inside? Like some type of adhesive layer or spray-on rubber?
2. The chimney mortar on the inside attic parts of the chimney is just crumbling away like dust, so my guess is that the water coming in from the roof gaps has just eaten the mortar up over time. A guy I had with me put his finger into the gaps and just dusted the mortar away easily. If you look at the previous picture above, you'll notice that there has been some more recent mortar work (it's colored reddish), the old work is below that (looks greyish) and it's crumbling away. The chimney part on the outside of the house is in excellent shape, however... it's the part in the attic that looks more weather beaten, lol.
QUESTION: should I just clean away all of the crumbled mortar (without disturbing the brick composition of course) and then fill it in with new mortar?
3. Part of the roof on the left side of the roof, has a small hole (like less than half the size of a dime) where you can see light shining through. What's the easiest way to get a strong patching of the hole?
1. Lack of flashing on the roof seal ... here are two pictures showing the flashing and how it's not sealed as one piece on the right and left side of the chimney:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/...bf4a1e1f_b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6083/...74fd37b5_b.jpg
So I went into the attic/crawl space, and looked up and of course noticed gaps with light shining through (where the flashing is supposed to cover) on the left and right side of roof where the chimney comes through:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6084/...72c732a9_b.jpg
^^^ If you look at the top left corner between the wood beam and the chimney, you can faintly see light shining through. You can't see the actual gap in the photo but there is a small gap, that's where the light is of course shining through. It's the same thing on the right side. The shingles aren't close enough to the chimney, and since the flashing is somehow off, the gap is happening.
Surprisingly, the attic is bone dry despite the fact that this flashing gap has probably been there for many years now. There are no animals in the attic, on a few dead bugs, and no visible animal droppings.
QUESTION: Is there is a simple solution to closing the gap from the inside? Like some type of adhesive layer or spray-on rubber?
2. The chimney mortar on the inside attic parts of the chimney is just crumbling away like dust, so my guess is that the water coming in from the roof gaps has just eaten the mortar up over time. A guy I had with me put his finger into the gaps and just dusted the mortar away easily. If you look at the previous picture above, you'll notice that there has been some more recent mortar work (it's colored reddish), the old work is below that (looks greyish) and it's crumbling away. The chimney part on the outside of the house is in excellent shape, however... it's the part in the attic that looks more weather beaten, lol.
QUESTION: should I just clean away all of the crumbled mortar (without disturbing the brick composition of course) and then fill it in with new mortar?
3. Part of the roof on the left side of the roof, has a small hole (like less than half the size of a dime) where you can see light shining through. What's the easiest way to get a strong patching of the hole?
#2
08-22-11, 06:36 PM
I would be nervous enough buying a house with the chimney going through the middle of the house. With the mortar in he condition that you described, I would look elsewhere. Waterproofing is done from the outside, so there is not quick fix from the inside that I would recommend. Others may disagree.
