Lead around chimney brest

[H F]

17 hours ago, Big Jimbo said:

Be so careful. That is seriously high. Do ask yourself the question is it worth the risk. I know you want to get it sorted, but perhaps a few hundred quid to a local roofer might be a safer option. I know you are struggling to find one. There is usually a local pub, where the local builders meet for a tall tales session on a Friday afternoon. I'd find that, and start chatting to a few of them. You would'nt believe the power of a phone call from a builder to a roofer that he uses all the time. Especially if you have just bought him a pint.

I have a fear of heights, so gutter clearing and roof tasks are my wife’s domain... I would like keep her around, so I think we will pursue professional assistance with this one. 

[H F]

On the subject of the moss on the roof, is there any of dealing with it other than scaling the roof?

[H F]

1 hour ago, Ed Davies said:

If your gutter really is 10m up then something quite a bit more beefy is called for, ideally attached to the wall (tied off through a window or something). As above, DIY might not be the best option.

I’ve looked at the height this morning and I reckon it’s 8-9m from the ground to the gutter.

[H F]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

I paid less than £2K for all my Kwikstage scaffold and I used a small amount of it to get up to the gable end to install my flue pipe

Nice piece of kit. 2k is well over budget for us though. I guess it’s an investment in the long-term.

[Onoff]

Just now, Home Farm said:

Nice piece of kit. 2k is well over budget for us though. I guess it’s an investment in the long-term.

 

Or you resell when finished and recoup some cost.

[H F]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

TBH I would be getting the professionals in - you don’t get a second chance if you slip from that sort of height. 

Now that all things have been weighed up and considered I am very much on the same page as you.

[Big Jimbo]

4 hours ago, Home Farm said:

I have a fear of heights, so gutter clearing and roof tasks are my wife’s domain... I would like keep her around, so I think we will pursue professional assistance with this one. 

Good idea. Try the pub.

[H F]

We had a roofer come out yesterday that looked up at the chimney from the ground - he also thought the brickwork looked saturated and wet, and has quoted us £1900 + VAT to rebuild the chimney - we would need to supply the bricks.

 

Given that we’ve not had a leak or any water making its way into the house via the chimney before (and we’ve endured heavy rains before) I’m not sure whether this required, and whether the water making its way into the house is coming via a potential hole or shoddy lead flashing. We’re going to have that inspected tomorrow morning by a pro.

 

On a closing point is there any other threats a damp/porous chimney poses to the rest of the house in terms of damp, mould, etc?

Edited November 17, 2019 by Home Farm

[Ferdinand]

23 hours ago, Home Farm said:

I’ve looked at the height this morning and I reckon it’s 8-9m from the ground to the gutter.

 

Hint: count the rows of bricks, then estimate by counting how many in a measured 1 or 2m.

 

Second opinion required from another roofer?

F

Edited November 17, 2019 by Ferdinand

[H F]

Clever idea on the measurements.

 

Second opinion is always useful... most of these guys are saying that they can only come out in Jan due their busy schedules.

[H F]

Right now I’m just trying to figure out whether wet, porous bricks can pose any further damage to the house in general... that’ll make up our minds. There’s also always the option of waterproofing/treating the bricks to prevent the water from penetrating them as mentioned earlier.

 

I guess that the rebuild is the better fix. 
 

thoughts?

Edited November 17, 2019 by Home Farm

[Onoff]

1 hour ago, Home Farm said:

We had a roofer come out yesterday that looked up at the chimney from the ground - he also thought the brickwork looked saturated and wet, and has quoted us £1900 + VAT to rebuild the chimney - we would need to supply the bricks.

 

Given that we’ve not had a leak or any water making its way into the house via the chimney before (and we’ve endured heavy rains before) I’m not sure whether this required, and whether the water making its way into the house is coming via a potential hole or shoddy lead flashing. We’re going to have that inspected tomorrow morning by a pro.

 

On a closing point is there any other threat a damp/porous chimney poses to the rest of the house in terms of damp, mould, etc?

 

Eventually your chimney could become structurally unsound.

[H F]

8 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

Eventually your chimney could become structurally unsound.

Hmmm. Not what I wanted to hear. So it might be worth getting done. Sigh. 

[Temp]

A lot of new bricks are porous. I once filled a bucket with our house bricks then filled all the space with water. They fizzed and popped and absorbed the lot. Next day almost no water in the bucket and individual bricks felt really heavy.

 

A new chimney or rebuild should have a DP to stop ingress through damp bricks.

 

https://www.labcwarranty.co.uk/blog/how-to-ensure-your-chimney-is-constructed-correctly/

 

 

Edited November 17, 2019 by Temp

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, Home Farm said:

Hmmm. Not what I wanted to hear. So it might be worth getting done. Sigh. 

 

Is it a thing that can be scheduled for better weather next year?

 

Ask roofer?

[PeterW]

Also worth when doing a new chimney to keep it out of the attic / internal wall space. Couple done recently have used an external build up so for a significant part the chimney is outside the main structure -reduce potential damp to a minimum.  

[H F]

5 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Is it a thing that can be scheduled for better weather next year?

 

Ask roofer?

That would be a consideration... maybe if we can temporarily plug the cause of the water making its way into the house, then that buys us time for the summer, and get more second opinions.

[Ferdinand]

.

Edited November 17, 2019 by Ferdinand
In case it comes true...

[joe90]

I have recently “bodged” my son in laws chimney that was leaking slightly, looks a lot like yours. A bit of flash banding and mortar did the job. Reason for the bodge is he is having a loft conversion in the next two years and the chimney might go or be rebuilt as part of that work so no point in a proper job now. His is three stories but access via a two story extension was not too bad (plus I used to be a mountaineer/rock climber).

[Gone West]

@Home Farm Do you use the chimney now or are you likely to want to in the future. A friend of ours removed one of his completely.

[Onoff]

I too removed one chimney in my first house. Used a Minimax tower from work and my ladders and hooks.

 

I wasn't going to but went up via just ladders onto the roof to look at a chimney pot that was leant over. Pretty hairy when it came off in my hands. I wedged it behind the stack. 

 

Next plan was to take a few courses off and cap it off. Every course might as well have been held together with sand so I just kept on going. I slid the bricks down the roof on a couple of tethered sheets of ply to my FiL on the scaffold and he dropped them into the front garden. 

 

I had to put in a new bit of roof joist then felt and tile. 

[H F]

19 hours ago, Temp said:

A new chimney or rebuild should have a DP to stop ingress through damp bricks.

Agreed. We have someone coming today. They’ll get on the roof and look for the cause. When we rebuild, a DP will definitely go in.

[H F]

16 hours ago, joe90 said:

His is three stories but access via a two story extension was not too bad (plus I used to be a mountaineer/rock climber).

That’s a handy skill set to have when working high up.
 

Did you just strap the tools to your backpack as you scaled up the side of the house? ?

Edited November 18, 2019 by Home Farm

[H F]

15 hours ago, PeterStarck said:

@Home Farm Do you use the chimney now or are you likely to want to in the future. A friend of ours removed one of his completely.

We have two new wood burning stoves that use that chimney, so we are definitely going to have to keep the chimneys. 

[Ferdinand]

Trust that it doesn’t have a wooden beam going through the middle of it like our Jacobean Chimney did :-).

 

Yes it did catch fire eventually.