Chimney rebuilt during the freeze

Kace

I had my chimney fall down during the freeze (old 1900s red-brick) and got a builder to organise a rebuild of the chimney from the roof apex upwards.

The chimney was rebuilt during the very cold weather the week before last and the sides were wrapped by the builder in bubble-wrap for a few days while the cement dried.

The top of the chimney was fully cemented around the pots but was not covered at all during the -10 temperatures. I took a look the other day and the top of it is now flaky like puff pastry and pieces can be tapped, cracked and then pulled off. I know that this flaky stuff could be scraped off and then re-cemented.

However I am more worried that the actualy chimney cement has not set properly and that the whole thing may now need to be redone. Anyone know how this would be verified from an engineering perspective ?

I'm sure it would all be grand for another 5-10 years but obviously the whole thing could come down again at some stage.

I don't think that the guys put any additives (anti frosting agents) into the cement when doing the work. Also, I don't think bubble wrap would really keep it warm - it must have been -5 to -9 on the nights that it was supposed to be drying.

Any experience out there with this sort of work during these conditions ?

Outkast_IRE

I know some blocklayers and plasterers that wouldnt work and couldnt work the last few weeks as they couldnt guarentee the work would dry properly etc in the current conditions .

brendankelly

Firstly Should it not have been a lime mix used???. But that is a debate for another day.

Next. The fact that he wrapped the faces with bubble wrap shows that he knew frost was coming and it could do harm and he was only worried about the areas that could be seen from the ground tell its own story.

A good few years ago we had to rake out all the flaked mortar between blocks before we plastered it. We also found that the mortar under the last row of blocks on the chimneys where the lead comes in from the chimney pots was completely flaked and had to be redone. There was some reaction between the frost, lead and Mortar???.

Poor Uncle Tom

Kace wrote: »

I had my chimney fall down during the freeze (old 1900s red-brick) and got a builder to organise a rebuild of the chimney from the roof apex upwards.

The chimney was rebuilt during the very cold weather the week before last and the sides were wrapped by the builder in bubble-wrap for a few days while the cement dried.

The top of the chimney was fully cemented around the pots but was not covered at all during the -10 temperatures. I took a look the other day and the top of it is now flaky like puff pastry and pieces can be tapped, cracked and then pulled off. I know that this flaky stuff could be scraped off and then re-cemented.

However I am more worried that the actualy chimney cement has not set properly and that the whole thing may now need to be redone. Anyone know how this would be verified from an engineering perspective ?

I'm sure it would all be grand for another 5-10 years but obviously the whole thing could come down again at some stage.

I don't think that the guys put any additives (anti frosting agents) into the cement when doing the work. Also, I don't think bubble wrap would really keep it warm - it must have been -5 to -9 on the nights that it was supposed to be drying.

Any experience out there with this sort of work during these conditions ?

You would be best advised to get a good local Architectural Technician/Engineer on site to check out the works and report on same. You have valid concerns which need to be addressed and if the works need to be re-done then so be it.

mail

Try get a Clerk of Works instead of an Architectual Technician, Clerk of Works have a trade background and have usually worked on site and would have hands on knowledge .

muffler

mail wrote: »

Try get a Clerk of Works instead of an Architectual Technician, Clerk of Works have a trade background and have usually worked on site and would have hands on knowledge .

You're in the wrong forum to push that angle mate.