Chimney pointing

[JTK]

Having good trade work done costs, but I was kind of surprised at this one. Last time I had an nearly identical chimney re-pointed was about 21yrs ago and it cost under $300 from a reputable guy.

Today? $1200. This does include setting up scaffolding because it's a hike up there. Sucker better be like new and last. LOL

 

[hemitom]

Is the chimney an exhaust for an oil furnace or boiler, the particulate from oil exhaust and condensation produce acid which over time breaks down the clay and cement many recommend a stainless liner.

 

[Fitter30]

No flue cap to birds or rain out?

 

[Chris142]

Chimney pointing? New to me. Off to google it.

 

[JC1]

I doubt you'd get anyone to come out for $300 these days. Not worth the time and effort. How old are the bricks as well? I'm thinking you'll need some of the bricks replaced unless you are very lucky.

 

[JTK]

The house was built in 1972. This chimney is for the natural gas water heater and furnace exhaust. It's concrete block the rest of the way down to the basement. There is a mortar cap of sorts on the top. I do plan to put a metal bird screen cap on the flue once it's done.

Also having a metal roof put on next week. Talk about bleeding cash.

 

[PimTac]

The bricks in the picture look good. They should replace any that are cracked. That chimney is way overdue for pointing.

 

[PimTac]

A tip to consider:

my brother had a metal roof put on and during the next winter the snow slid off and took the gutters off as well. The snow caught the gutter edge as it avalanched off the roof. He installed a Leaf Guard style system to keep that from happening again. It has worked now for the 20 some odd years the metal roof has been on.

Since you are in Buffalo this might interest you.

 

[Hogwash]

A tip to consider:

my brother had a metal roof put on and during the next winter the snow slid off and took the gutters off as well. The snow caught the gutter edge as it avalanched off the roof. He installed a Leaf Guard style system to keep that from happening again. It has worked now for the 20 some odd years the metal roof has been on.

Since you are in Buffalo this might interest you.

Don't they normally install cleats towards the bottom to prevent that?

 

[JustinH]

Yep Buffalo. Had a two family house in South Buffalo that had a nightmare of a chimney like yours. My house was built in 1920, the clay falls apart and the CO leaks through the morter.

Also birds fall in and die in there, and block up the chimney.

Stainless liner and cap is way to go.

The newer furnaces throw too much condensation so the clay flue deteriorates over time.

So glad that houses down south have stainless vents with caps to exhaust flue gas.

 

[JTK]

So glad that houses down south have stainless vents with caps to exhaust flue gas.

It's kind of nice in that anything built in the last 20-30yrs should be force vented out the side of the house. No chimney. Like you say though, if it goes out the roof, all metal is what you see. It would cost me a lot more than $1200 to abandon this chimney and go force vented.

Luckily, looking down mine, it looks new on the inside. It's always got some heat to it with the water heater pilot light at a minimum, plus the use from a household of 6 people.

 

[PimTac]

Don't they normally install kleats towards the bottom to prevent that?

They do but in his case he has a roof with a steeper pitch than most so the velocity of the snow may have played a part in it. The cleats or supports are only as good as what they are attached to.

His gutter guards are the type that cover the gutter but include a rain drip gap that water flows in to the gutter but leaves stay out. In this case it also provides a smooth surface for the snow to slide over.

 

[JTK]

Thanks fellas. I definitely have to have snow cleats across the front of my home because of our main entrance and the fact we park cars up there. Here's an older and all too authentic winter time pic of my home. The roof from peak to the lower edge the garage is long stretch. I think I'm over 30 square for roof area. Home is ~2800 sq/ft.

 

[Wolf359]

You should have gotten a few more quotes. Doesn't matter how high the roof is, never had a guy use scaffolding just for re-pointing. Doesn't actually look that high, could probably get away with a 32 foot ladder to get on the roof. That pitch doesn't look too bad so any roofer should be able to do it. And yeah, $300-$500 is what it would still cost, shouldn't take that long.

 

[JTK]

Took the guy about 4hrs. He wound up using my 30ft extension ladder and charged me $1000. Materials were a bag or two of mortar or cement best I could tell and he poured the new cap that you can't really see from the pic $250/hr. Not a bad line of work to be in! It's all on me because I agreed to it and didn't quote it out other than another local guy online that didn't give me an actual price or timeframe but said "Yeah, $1000-1200 is a bit high". My guy gives a 10yr guarantee for what that's worth.

Metal roof gets installed tomorrow.

 

[Donald]

I had a block chimney where the edges of the block has eroded away and the top 3 needed to be replaced. It took more time to setup and take down the scaffolding that to do the work. It was a little over $3000. I would have thought $1000.

 

[JTK]

For sure on that Donald. Had this guy used scaffolding (he didn't), that would have been most the labor and time.

I don't think he had to go up/down the ladder more than 4x. One he got setup, he stayed up there. He used an electric grinder and hand tools and gave the roof a quick rinse with a few gallons of water when he was done. Lots of dust and grit on the roof. Glad I got it done now. This would have gouged up a metal roof unless you could put down some non-slip rubber or something to protect it.

 

[JC1]

Looks good, hopefully it lasts for a long time.

 

[SeaJay]

Having good trade work done costs, but I was kind of surprised at this one. Last time I had an nearly identical chimney re-pointed was about 21yrs ago and it cost under $300 from a reputable guy.

Today? $1200. This does include setting up scaffolding because it's a hike up there. Sucker better be like new and last. LOL

I had that, plus possibly some additional flashing performed by my contractor a few years ago. It might have cost $1,500 or perhaps a few hundred less, can't remember the exact figure. This was in NY just north of the City.

 

[JTK]

The metal roof came out nicer than I expected. Four Amish fellas and about 5-6hrs of time. Quite the deal at $7100, at least compared to brickwork.