Save the Chimneys - Part 2

Stumped Chimney with cement cap closing off one flu. Dangerous!
Several Stumped and parged chimneys
"Stumped" Chimney
Over the years wandering "Fair Weather Fixers" have been going door to dor in this high density chimney hood offering their "Fast Buck Solutions" to our aged stacks. They gladly take your $250.00, buy a cheap bag of the wrong mortar and start pointing or parging away. Customers feel gratified because someone actually went up on the roof and "said" they solved all of their woes. Happy with this megashot of bliss they pay up thinking they are in chimney nirvana. Well here is a list of all of the things that these chimney charletons leave behind: They always use the wrong mortar which is too hard and causes the bricks to virtually explode. Did you ever find a piece of loose brick in your yard or in your gutter and wonder where it came from? They always lop off the top of the chimney, eliminating all of it's original and historically significant detail. They parge a cap onto the top coarse of bricks which they sell as a water shed. They caulk instead of point. They butter the entire chimney with mortar. They "Stump" the chimney to unsafe heights which can cause draft problems. Several homes on this street have their flu's completely capped off with cement. If a new, unsuspecting homeowner decides to use his chimney for a heater he will poison himself to death. Not that long ago, a very dear senior citizen neighbour who was always paranoid that "kangaroos" might come into her house via the chimney gladly paid one of these mutants to stump her chimney under the roof line. Now the hole is blocked off with some tin and pitch just waiting to leak. The chimney is completely gone!Yeah for the kangaroos! The pictures above show a few examples of this "out of sight, out of mind" repair work.
Next time out we will be in the kitchen with Martha cooking up original recipe morter.

Two Days Left Until the Party. Time to Cough Up

Only two days left until the Pig Roast and still lots to do. Sarah is still short of funds so lets help her out. $20.00 per couple or $10.00 a head if you are a Monmouth Roadie. Pay up, make her day. This is important because we need these funds up front for purchasing certain items like the pig. (Betty)
We also need to see the lights get strung up either tonight or tomorrow night. The alley also needs to be swept up etc. Let's get on it folks. Money is the big thing today. If you can't find Sarah or she can't find you, then post a comment on this site to let her know how to find you. Name and/or address will be fine. We need your money honey!

Anatomy of a 4th Street Chimney

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.