On Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 9:56:27 AM UTC-4, Peter wrote:
On 3/17/2018 8:11 AM, Arnie Goetchius wrote:
Dan Espen wrote:
Arnie Goetchius writes:

I have a chimney that has about 200 bricks of which about 20 are
spalled. What can I expect a contractor to charge (ballpark) to
replace the 20 spalled bricks. Location is Central NJ

To get a rough idea, estimate job time and material cost.

My not so educated guess is 2 guys all day for a job like that. Not
sure about typical rates, but maybe $100/hr.

Bricks are pretty cheap unless you have something unusual. Google
says .50 a brick.

So maybe $1700.


Thanks for the rough idea. As this is a two story house with most of
the bricks to be replaced closer to the top of the chimney, I would
assume that scaffolding would have to be used so that would increase
the cost by 10% or 20% or so?


If you are moving soon, just have the bricks replaced. If you are
planning to remain in the house more than about 4-5 years, you need to
take care of the reason why those bricks spalled - water seeping into
the bricks and then expanding/contracting as the water freezes/thaws in
winter weather. The problem is more common when the chimney vents a
fireplace that is rarely/never used, or vents a high efficiency furnace
where the exhaust gases are much cooler than from traditional furnaces.

Good point on figuring out if there is an underlying problem that needs
to be addressed. One common problem is people replace an old gas furnace
with a high efficiency, direct vent one. That vents separately, but
that leaves the existing gas water heater on the old chimney, which is
now over-sized and condensation that doesn't get cleared results. Those
chimneys should have a liner installed.




There are several reasons why water can get into the bricks. A
competent chimney repair person will know how to diagnose and treat the
cause. Often the problem is as simple to deal with as a new, larger
chimney cap. Sometimes there has been a loss of mortar and you need to
have all the mortar repointed. Just replacing the bricks is likely not
a long term fix.