How To Repair Damaged Chimney Bricks
How To Repair Flaking Fireplace, Chimney Bricks
Chimney bricks can flake, peel, crack or split. The cause is usually water leakage within the chimney interior; soaking into the brick, freezing and causing splitting of the outer brick.
The first thing that must be done is to inspect the capping on the top of the chimney; any crack or missing concrete must be replaced. A fresh coat of concrete over the entire top surface will put things in order.
Next using a chisel, remove all the unstable loose pieces of brick from the chimney, that you will be replacing.
Start by making up a couple of jigs to help you repair the broken bricks. Cut a couple of wooden strips 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch. Measure the length and height of the bricks to be repaired and build the jig to fit the chimney ( see photo).
Place the jig onto the chimney; you will be filling up the inside of the jigs with a premixed high bonding concrete. Mix up half a small pail of water with a ratio of one portion of bond well glue to a 10 portion of water. Mix well and paint all the areas that you will be applying concrete. Use what is left over to mix with the dry, premixed bonding cement. Mix the cement so that it is fairly stiff, but wet enough to bond well. Finish up by drawing your trowel over the surface at a steep angle to cause a rough surface that matches the original bricks. The steeper the trowel angle, the rougher the surface becomes, it is like scraping it across the top, to give it a rough brick-like texture.
This photo shows the curing concrete with the jig removed. To remove the jig; wait about half an hour so the concrete starts to cure and becomes stiffer and able to support it. Run your trowel around the inside of the jig and slowly remove the jig.
This photo shows the repaired fireplace chimney bricks that were repaired. The bricks around the repaired area was washed down with a brush and water to remove any splashed concrete. This was done about a half hour later after the jig was removed. Any spilled or dropped concrete was also cleaned up. I decided to leave the repaired bricks in the natural color of the concrete, as it tended to blend in ok. The other option is to mix up a batch of paint to match the brick color, and paint them.
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How to repair damaged fireplace brick chimneys, for the average person