Save the chimneys! One of the most significant architectural and historical features of these Eduardian homes is the chimney. It is also on the verge of becoming extinct as fly by night repairs and alterations are being made on an annual basis. The original ribboned and fluted design is being decimated because residents are reluctant to inspect them for themselves or to have a qualified "historical renovator" do the job properly. Long term forsight of this very important detail will bring a payback of ten fold. On this historically important street it is the details that make the difference.
Every year we get flyers in our mailboxes from "one man shows" who say they fix chimneys. And every year another chimney gets sawed off, parged or worse yet capped. Always with the wrong materials which expedites further decay. Well...There is a wrong way and a right way to repair or revive these crown jewels. During the following posts we are going to have a look at the current state of affairs on our roof tops. We will look at all of the disasterous repairs to date, at the few remaining "in tact" specimens and we will do a step by step assessment and rennovation. Stay tuned.
August 23, 2005
Anatomy of a 4th Street Chimney
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Hey Johnnywindsor...
Good and important question. We do have the original recipe which I will post here in the next few days. There are also some good "soft" pre-mixes available which are designed to emulate the original. Soft because these homes were made with "dome fired" bricks which are incredibly soft and porous. If too hard of a morter is used (most modern morters) the bricks will give in to expansion and contraction and "spall" (outer surface will shale away). This will happen rather quickly. Basically you are looking at what is a "slaked lime mix" which should also incorporate some coarse river sand. Colour is a huge factor here on the block. White is the colour your are after. (a few are done with red...I think yours). To verify this, pull a short piece of morter out and snap it in half. The colour you see in the cross section is white or red. Over the years the morter surface has darkened with age and fall out. If you are looking at repointing the surface of the home here is a tip. It's a huge, boring job. Only re-point areas which absolutely need to be done. This keeps the job managable and gives good, quick results. Tools are important too. You will want a good, flexible, 1/4 inch "brick lick" a thin (preferably steel or aluminum "hoc" or a home made derivative) and a "skate". This will be detailed in a later post. Thats all for now. Thanks for the comment. Who is johnnywindsor anyhow?
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