Spent a whole day on a 1920s flue that had a hidden brick collapse.

I finally got it cleared after 7 hours by using a camera scope and a custom bent rod from my truck, but who else has a good method for finding and fixing those hidden voids without tearing out the whole chimney?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_stella17d ago

Man, that's the worst. It feels like everything built before 1950 has these secret, crumbling problems waiting to ambush you. Your camera and rod trick is smart. I've seen guys use a shop vac with a long hose to suck out loose debris from small voids first, then pack in a wet mortar mix with a funnel and tube.

danielhenderson17d ago

That shop vac idea is a good one for getting the cavity clean. In my case, the void was just too deep and narrow for that to work well. Ended up using a bent piece of conduit to really push the grout back in there, making sure it packed tight. Took a lot of patience and a very wet mix to get it to flow. The old bricks just drank up the moisture like a sponge. Still, it held and stopped the leak, which is what mattered in the end.

the_sam10d agoMost Upvoted

Sounds like old houses just love keeping their secrets.