Chimney Repairs

2018

 

 

The Leak

 

Spring of 2018 found us with a roof leak on the back porch. It only came after a pretty good deluge and it appeared where the bricks of the chimney met the plywood ceiling of the porch.

Immediate suspect is flashing around the chimney.

Cindy also reported that there had been problems here 15+ years ago, before the new roof.

Here is a look at the flashing on the uphill side...the roofers had put this flashing and caulking 11 years ago in 2007.

The caulk was shot...
The caulk around the top edge of flashing was poor...
Numerous nail heads and nail holes were not sealed...
So the first fix...clean out all old caulk and put in a new run of silicone caulk...
The lower, northeast corner was where the leak seemed to be, but that can be tricky...this view of that edge of flashing is from the east...
...this view is from the west.
After this first fix, the leak was still happening...we turned out attention to the crown of the chimney and decided to do another round of silicone at the base...top edge...
...the problem edge...
...seen from below...the second round of silicone caulk stopped the leak...checked out during two major rain falls.

The Crown

 

During our attempt to locate the leak, we considered that the crown could be the sources of the leak.

I examined the crown and found some cracks that I did not think were causing the leaks but were problematic.

This one is on the southeast top edge...

the northwest edge...
Pulled the cage...sprayed it with several coats of glossy black paint...added some drip cap flashing turned inward...reinstalled, trapping a bird...heard it and released it a couple of days later.
Filed the larger cracks with an elastomeric caulk, Sikaflex Pro...Concrete Fix...from the Orange BORG.
Cleaned out the cracks as best as possible...NW edge.
...put in the caulk...
Even though this type of caulk was cleared for overhead cracks or vertical cracks, I happed some fallout of this vertical crack.
Found a couple of substantial holes...these were over horzontal bricks and the previous crown cement had fallen into the hole in the brick...
filled...
Second large hole...

...filled...

I filled some other bad spots with silicone caulk.

In retrospect, I should have used the elastomeric caulk.

When I put on the Brushable Crown Repair it did not want to adhere to the silicone.

ChimneyRX...Brushable Crown Repair...got a gallon from Amazon.
Our chimney has two courses of bricks that are proud of the others...I decided to put the Crown RX over the edge of the very top bricks and to continue down to the ledge.
Put on duct tape...
Lightly misted the crown and brushed on the first coat...
...and a final second coat...pulled the duct tape.

We plan a cleaning of all of the bricks and a waterproofing of the bricks next fall.

 

 

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