Chimney Pointing/Flashing
So I spent most of yesterday in the sun repointing a disused chimney on my roof. It was in very bad shape, loose mortar and many of the bricks spalled. THe repointing is done, but it still looks like hell (spots of old roofing tar, etc. So the question: most of the chimneys in my…
So I spent most of yesterday in the sun repointing a disused chimney on my roof. It was in very bad shape, loose mortar and many of the bricks spalled. THe repointing is done, but it still looks like hell (spots of old roofing tar, etc.
So the question: most of the chimneys in my row of a dozen houses are flashed with roofing tar. Can I do the same? ANd is it applied just by spreading an even layer of tar over the entire chimney? does it need anything to hold it on? Or should I do something else? I don’t think the chimney needs to be rebuilt since it’s not used, I just want to seal it off and make it not look so bad.
Thanks!
I have to admit that the first impulse I have when I want to make any part of my house look prettier is to cover it in black tar.
Bond is absolutely right!
No, don’t do it! Fight the urge. Bricks need to breath to expel moisture and if you coat them with tar, they are going to have trapped moisture that will expand every time it dips below freezing busting up the bricks a little bit. This freeze thaw cycle will result in your bricks disintegrating on you. Don’t be fooled by the fact that so many people do it. It’s a bad, bad idea. Even if the chimney is not in use, that doesn’t mean that you aren’t going to want to use it at a future date, and if you absolutely have to coat it, you can go with a special parging cement that will not negatively impact the bricks.
If there are issues with leaking where the chimney goes through the roof you might need to flash around it with metal or rubber membrane. Otherwise I would use a masonry sealer like Dry-Lock. It would prevent moisture penetration and make the chimney look uniform. Probably easier to apply than tar and better looking.