Urgent question about parapet wall. Please help.

Hello Brownstoner community, I am agonizing over a small decision with potentially pricey consequences. We are having a new roof installed on our extension and the surrounding coping stones are being replaced. The original coping stones were replaced only two years ago by a contractor who swapped out the original terra cotta and replaced it with granite. The granite was flat and seemingly ineffective as it created a situation where the flashing on the roof of the extension came away from the wall. It was a mess. The contractor who replaced the coping stones two years ago was hired to put stucco on the rear wall, which had deteriorated bricks as a result of thoroseal. The bricks apparently had rotted beneath the thoroseal applied by the previous owners and were crumbling. Today the granite coping stones were removed as was the flashing on the parapet walls, revealing bricks on this side of the wall that appear to be in decent shape. Tomorrow, the workers will replace the coping stones with terra cotta ones and put on the new roof. As for the interior wall, our contractor has given us a number of choices, and we need to decide what we want to do by tomorrow morning. Here are the choices: 1) repoint “as necessary” and leave exposed bricks on the parapet ($500); or 2) cover with thoroseal ($1,000); or 3) apply stucco ($2,500); or 4) grind out all pointing and repoint all the bricks ($2,500); or 5) cover with roofing material (no extra charge) I love the look of exposed brick, but no one will ever see this exposed brick unless they are in my bedroom looking out the window onto the extension roof. It seems like all of our neighbors have covered the parapet walls of their main roofs and extension roofs with roofing material. Four years of living in my house has made me think the best thing to do is follow in the wisdom of my neighbors. Our contractor, however, says that it is better for the bricks to “breathe” and so repointing is the way to go. Normally I would agree with this but the majority of the bricks, on the other side of the wall, are covered in old thoroseal and stucco, and these bricks in question have been covered in flashing and roofing material for years and seem to be OK. I’m afraid these good bricks would be exposed to so much water if left exposed because of where they lie beneath the coping stones and above the extension roof. I’m scared that they will rot like the ones on the other side of the wall if water gets in through a tiny crack and then we will have to totally rebuild the parapet wall. What do people typically do to coat the parapet walls on their roofs? Is flashing the norm? Or do some people have exposed brick? Am I right that most people just coat them in roofing material, or is there something I’m missing? Please let me know any thoughts you might have on this. I know it’s a small decision, but I’m fearful of paying for yet another bad decision in a few years. Thanks so much.

Due to the urgency I’ll jump in. We normally have Superior Tin make up sheet metal capping that covers the top of the parapet walls. On top of the tin granite sounds fine to hold down the tin. Flashing or Thoroseal sounds OK, but it has to come up high enough so the tin capping covers it, so water dripping down has to go on outside. Covering with Thoroseal doesn’t sound like a $1,000 job, that sounds crazy. One or two bags of Thoroseal, and a deep roller to apply, and a few hours labor?? I think I am in the wrong business. Tin capping is pricey, but it is the basis for a long, trouble free install. Cement under granite doesn’t have to be a work of art, just to protect tin from sun and rain. This emergency decision your contractor is imposing seems unethical, what’s the rush?

Thanks, brucef. Can you provide contact info for Superior Tin or on contractor or mason with expertise in parapet wall flashing and coping? What do you mean by cement under granite? Would that go over the tin? Thanks.