Pointing Chimney Breast

OohSoHolly

Hello,

Hoping someone can help me with this worrying job we have yet to tackle.

Basically we bought a house in September last year which had a log burner located in the dining room. We were informed that all that it needed was sweeping however as with all jobs it wasn't this simple. So we discovered it needed a new register plate and flute and to cut a long story short there was a random wall built around it that would prevent us from having this done. So we've taken that wall down to reveal the original Chimney breadt however it needs re-pointing.

We're looking to do this while we're off this week however when we uncovered it there were some cracks in the mortar and some hairline cracks in the bricks. We're really concerned now that when we go to remove the mortar the bricks are going to shift or potentially the whole thing could collapse.

I've attached some photographs and would really appreciate some views and advice on this. It's our first house so all jobs are unnerving to us!





Many Thanks

TRB

I have seen far worse , The arch looks fine you always get some shrinkage with chimney breasts. When you rake out the joints some of the bricks may get loose they can be taken out and relayed. Just take your time and there should be nothing to worry about.

FreeBear

TRB wrote: »

I have seen far worse

Did some work on my chimney breast last year - The bricks in the arch looked decidedly dodgy, and when I poked one, the entire arch collapsed :eek: It was only a very rusty bit of 3/8" thick iron bar that had been holding the whole lot up. Quickly got an acro & strongboy in there to support everything whilst the arch was replaced.

OohSoHolly

Oh No, we just went from incredibly relieved to incredibly terrified again! :eek:

Grenage

It will be fine; see those cracks in a triangle? Worst case scenario, that would fall out. That's most likely not going to happen, and you can crack on with the pointing.

I would not be concerned.

FreeBear

OohSoHolly wrote: »

Oh No, we just went from incredibly relieved to incredibly terrified again! :eek:

My brickwork was considerably worse than yours. It was only the arch and a couple or three courses of bricks that fell down. The rest of the chimney breast remained standing, and I probably didn't need the acro/strongboy (but it made me feel safer).

As for your brickwork, I would suggest cutting a template out of something like MDF to the same shape as the brick arch (cut two pieces), and then build some supporting framework out of 3x2 timber. Once it is wedged in place, taking bricks out of the arch won't see it all collapsing around your ears.

tony6403

There seems to be a good supporting radius on the arch and I would not expect to have to remove any bricks.
As already mentioned above the interlocking effect (corbelling) of the brickwork above the arch means that very little is at risk of collapse.
I would grind out the bad jointing as far back as possible and repoint with a 4:1 sand/cement mortar.