Q–My house has a painted brick chimney that handles the exhaust from both the gas furnace and an occasional fire in the living room fireplace. Because they were chipping away, I had to replace the top 10 or so rows of bricks about 8 years ago. Now, once again, the facing of these uppermost bricks is chipping away. I`m not talking about paint scales here, but 1/4-inch-thick pieces of brick are actually breaking off! The mortar, the concrete-slab closing at the chimney top and the tile liner are not affected. Have I used the wrong paint, or shouldn`t I have painted at all? Could it be the brick? I would appreciate your suggestions.
A–Before I answer your question, I must pass along a general warning: It is dangerous to have two appliances vented through the same flue; so I hope there are two flues in this chimney that are handling exhaust from both your furnace and fireplace. If not, I suggest you call in a chimney professional to correct the situation.
Now, back to your question. I don`t think painting the brick is causing the deterioration problem you`re experiencing for the second time. More than likely, the culprit here is a poor-quality brick. Did you use the newer, cement-type bricks for your first replacement job? This type of brick can absorb water, which can freeze over the winter months and cause the bricks to break.
I see two options here. First, a masonry contractor may be able to stucco over the exposed chimney area to make this one uniform surface. If you`re opposed to this look or if the mason doesn`t recommend it in your particular situation, there`s not much left to do but rebrick again. I would seriously consider removing all the bricks in the exposed chimney area down to the roofline. Replace them with a good-quality brick made to be used outdoors in a chimney location. I don`t advise painting your new brick chimney. Why spend good money to cover new masonry? You can select a brick in a shade that`s pleasing to you and eliminate the maintenance painting brick creates.
Q–I`m considering having my house sided with aluminum. How do I determine the differences in the quality of the product I`m buying? The estimates I`ve gotten for this job vary. Does the price difference mean that one contractor uses a better quality of aluminum or is the difference in the quality of work, or both?
A–The price differential may reflect different labor rates between the contractors, or one may mark up the materials more than the other or simply have a larger overhead. What you`re looking for is a fair price for the material and labor, while expecting the contractor to make a reasonable profit.
Like anything else, there are differences in the quality of the siding itself. Choose one that`s halfway decent, and make sure it has a guarantee on its surface finish. As for deciding among contractors, a good way to do this is to look at a job or two each has recently completed. How do these houses look? Are they neat? Do the customers seem happy with the work? You can`t hide much when it comes to aluminum siding, so you should be able to tell just by looking what kind of work each does. If you`ve narrowed it down to two outfits, don`t be tempted to automatically take the lowest price. If past customers seem happy and the workmanship of the higher-priced contractor looks better, it might be worth it to pay a bit more for this quality.
Q–What`s the best way to eliminate sound transfer from an upstairs apartment? The ceiling cavity has 2-by-10 joists and is filled with fiberglass insulation. We`ve got 5/8 inches of drywall on our bedroom ceiling, while the room overhead has a layer of plywood covered with gypsum board underneath a padded carpet. Would adding an additional layer of drywall on our ceiling side make our bedroom quieter?
A–Sound is vibration. To eliminate it, you must break its path. Adding another sheet of drywall directly to the ceiling won`t help that much. What we`ve done in the past, when we`ve worked on houses with overhead apartments, is to install the downstairs ceiling on resilient channels. These special tracks are usually about 2-inch-wide metal strips, corrugated on the side, so they take a bit of impact. Because they break the path of vibration, putting drywall over these tracks will help. Since the channels are only about 1/2-inch deep, when coupled with a 5/8-inch sheet of drywall they don`t take up too much headroom. Dropping your ceiling slightly like this won`t solve your problem 100 percent, but it should help you have quieter nights.
Have a question about your old house? Bob Vila, host of the PBS show ”This Old House,” funded by Owens-Corning, will answer questions of general interest about rehabbing and renovating. Write in care of Know-how, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Sorry, letters cannot be answered personally.
