Chimney Works

[88v8]

Talking about the end, we are wondering about the most suitable method of supporting the flue at the chimney end. The flue was supplied with a support bracket that clamps on the flue and can be supported by the brickwork of the chimney but it looks a bit flimsy and I will most likely beef this up (not with a blue rope though). The suppliers recommended a metal plate to seal the top of the flue. I would have thought this was counterproductive from the ventilation perspective.

The insulated flue is 11m long and the uninsulated is 8m. I noted Feltwell's comment about providing an additional support lower down the flue. The insulated flue feels pretty well supported but the uninsulated one is just dangling!

Another decision is needed on the cowls. I have 5 flues that are unused and need a ventilation cowl and 4 with liners. The octagonal shape of the pot complicates this - the internal diameter at the top is 225mm and the external is 275mm but the round profile of the chimney only extends for 30mm from the top before it takes on its octagonal shape which doesn't allow much for the cowl supports to be strapped on with the long Jubilee clip.

As I may have mentioned, I used the Brewer UFO2.
To attach it to our very similar octagonal pot I used stainless wire, ran a loop around the top of the pot under the lip and wired the cowl to the loop. It ain't going anywhere.

Long runs of loose liner aren't a great idea. Especially now that sweeps tend to use a power sweeper which can make the liner move around a lot. So Feltwell's point about an interim support is a good one.

It's customary to close the top of the flue with a plate, also helps to support the clamp. That insulated liner is heavy and it will be supported mainly from the top.
But yes, it's counterproductive from the ventilation perspective.
So, to give continued ventilation in the flue, I drilled four x 1" holes through the stack near the top, and covered them with stainless bee mesh. Then at the bottom I have a slot about an inch wide along the back of the register plate, so there is a constant through flow of air in the stack.
That has worked well in drying what was a wet stack, so wet that in bad weather we had pools of water in the fireplace where rain was getting in through defective pointing somewhere under the thatch. And no doubt is still getting in, but the ventilation nullifies the problem.

Ivor

 

[Feltwell]

Finished chimneys 2 & 3, scaffold coming down tomorrow!

Some Before 'n' Afters:-

 

[Feltwell]

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[88v8]

Whoever did that pointing could give Matt's builder a lesson

Good for 100 years.

Ivor

 

[Feltwell]

100 would be great but I'll settle for 50 - definitely won't be my problem after then! I'll put a couple of close ups on Matt's thread.

Good to see the scaffold gone. The chimneys are quite a dominant feature of this place, hopefully their future is now secure for a good number of years. Now we've just got the rest of the house to repoint!

 

[Feltwell]

Hopefully, this will cure the damp in the stack - the ceiling in the room below has damp marks.

This was for the first stack finished back at the end of July.

Well...… Checked the ceiling with a damp meter today, still definitely damp, in fact same levels as several months ago before the work. I'm pinning my hopes on the fact that the works done will have introduced a lot of water into the stack - total repointing with of course wet mortar, 25 bricks replaced with again lots of lovely wet mortar, flaunching with wet mortar, and an awful lot of washing the stack down with a hosepipe. I'm thinking I probably need to give it a year before declaring if it's worked or not - what's the old adage for walls, a month for every inch of thickness for them to dry out? There's an awful lot of masonry in that stack, if it's all soaked I reckon at least a year to dry out.

Patience is a virtue......being virtuous is not my strong point! :lol:

 

[plasticpigeon]

What baffles me is how you find such great tradespeople. perhaps it is because you live in a place where the population appreciates these lovely old buildings, whereas I live in a place where only cheapness matters. I think I will movbe to Bridgnorth or the surrounding area in the near future.

 

[Feltwell]

Actually PP, quite a few of them have been Brummies! But don't let me put you off your Bridgnorth idea, it's a lovely town.

I've not really had that many tradesmen here - a lot of things I've done myself. Those tradesmen that have been here have nearly all come through a recommendation, that is key I think. Patience is key as well - I'm waiting for a leadworker to do a job at the moment, the chap who I've used before (who is fantastic) is unfortunately not available for the foreseeable due to personal circumstances. This new leadworker - who has come on a recommendation from the brickie who's been working here - is deeply disorganised, trying to get any kind of date or commitment out of him is nigh on impossible - but if he does a good job when he does eventually turn up, I'll tolerate that!

 

[Feltwell]

Well, not chimneys any more, but the mammoth repointing task continues - back and front of house done, now working on the side.

A few pictures to show, highlighting after and before!







Finger trowel a mere 3mm wide to get in the tight joints! Patience is required....



Plus the difference between the "posh" close jointed brick at the front of the house and the cheaper commons used on the side and rear. Joint of front to side...

 

[overlander matt]

That's looking really good there Feltwell. I am rather envious of your bricks - ours are a bit more like your commons albeit they're on the front of our house too. The repointing is on hold here for now - I will be shot if I repoint any more brickwork before we actually move into the house. Good luck with the rest of it!

Matt

 

[Feltwell]

There's advantages to the commons - a damn sight easier to rake out and repoint the wide joints for starters! They're a bit more "forgiving" of faults, any defects or damage on the hard reds at the front shows up more. The variety of colour is quite nice as well.

Mind you, they were a pig to match! The hard reds at the front are quite readily available as reclaims, but trying to get commons to match was very hard. Partly I think because they are softer and so reclaims don't tend to be in great condition, and partly because commons were made in lots of small local brickyards and vary a lot, whereas the hard reds were shipped in, from large works in Ruabon in my case.

 

[Zebra]

Looking very good Feltwell

 

[Feltwell]

Thank you!

I was a bit remiss with taking pictures of the "before", but to anyone contemplating sorting out their pointing, it really has lifted the appearance of the front of the house - looks a lot more cared for now, without looking new. The lighter pointing makes the whole elevation look brighter & cleaner, compared to the mish-mash of cement that had been done over time to varying standards that was there before. The new pointing will dirty down a bit in time and look a bit softer than it does right now.

Bit difficult to show before, but if you look at this picture, the area around the downpipe to the left of the bay was typical - bad cement pointing there that had failed and fallen out, and a very damp bay wall, the window above having been in a right state before renovation, leaking water into the cement-pointed base wall where it was trapped.



And here it is now:-

 

[plasticpigeon]

THat is very impressive pointing. Having done quite a lot of pointing I know how hard it is and I'm not sure I get as good a finish as you have. THe only way I have got close to that nice flush look is to fill up the joint and then when it has gone off a bit, rub it back with the end grain of a piece of wood to just below the surface of the bricks and then brush it. Is this similar to your method? On my house I'm pretty sure the original finish was flush and ruled but ruling every join seems like a lot of effort!

 

[Feltwell]

I wanted this to look like it's weathered, and I confess it's not me doing the pointing, I've got a brickie in. I'm just the labourer! Mind you that's still a lot of work....

It's all been a bit experimental, as whilst the brickie is used to lime work, its the first time he's used the premixed coloured lime mortar. He's very much a convert by the way - good stuff to work with, and it goes off quickly.

So the front of the house, with the tight joints in hard red bricks, has been filled fractionally past flush with a variety of finger trowels, some of which are tiny - I've had to grind them down. The mortar is then left to go semi-dry before polishing hard across the joint with a tough cotton cloth - old hand dryer towel - bringing it back to flush. Timing is everything! A very quick diluted acid wash afterwards is required as it does leave lime on the face of the bricks, but actually we've found the acid helps the mortar look older, as it exposes a bit more of the aggregate. That was done with fine mixture - 1mm aggregate limit.

On the wider jointed commons on the side and rear, similar process but rather than the cloth it's beaten back by hitting it with a churn brush when semi-dry, which also helps consolidate the mortar. It's been done with a medium mixture, 2mm aggregate. It's been a slow job as quite a few voids have been found, Stuart (the brickie) has been very careful to make sure everything is fully filled.

Hope that helps.