Chimney Sweeping

A high efficiency furnace vented into a Tera - cotta flue wrecks havoc on the brick as it's corrosive vapor quickly cools and deteriorates through the mortar at the joints of the flue tile. As the moister freezes in the brick, a $476 dollar repair job on the brickwork is formed. We had to reline the flue and hook the aluminum liner up to the furnace and water heater in the basement. That alone was a $499 expense to the unsuspecting new homeowner.

This picture shows a perspective of the crumbling chimney when I came to sweep out the flue of the other chimney across the roof on the fireplace chimney. The video shows a closer inspection of the damage.


Tearing into the old chimney was easy. It only took an hour to tear it down. The lined up bricks were salvaged. A reclaimed brick was found at a brick salvage yard that was similar in size color and texture. Of course it was found under dirt and weeds, and was mixed in with other discarded brick. The reclaimed brick also had hard mortar that first had to be removed with a mason hammer.



Ethan Carriger, a friend from church mixing mortar with the power drill.



Ethan Carriger, 18 was my right hand man while building the new chimney. Some bricks with freshly chiseled end faces are seen beneath his feet on the roof.

Building the new chimney took eight hours. Ethan had to chisel off the end of the new bricks as they were flat and needed to have that rock - face look. The tall chimney on the left side of the house seen in the last two pictures also has crumbling brick, and may also be repaired with some of the spare brick that were not used on this project.

The new chimney as seen from the back of the house.

A Chimney Sweepers view as he climbs up to the top of a chimney in Pontiac, MI next door to North Oakland Medical center on Huron Street.