[SOLVED] Contractors Cost to Replace 20 Spalled Chimney Bricks??

[Arnie Goetchius]

I have a chimney that has about 200 bricks of which about 20 are spalled. What can I expect a contractor to charge (ballpark) to replace the 20 spalled bricks. Location is Central NJ

[hubops]

First things first - bricks or blocks ?

Second things second - high difficult heritage home ? .... or the back yard BBQ pit ?

You are beginning to understand the futility of this sort of internet guessing game .. yes ? John T.

[Arnie Goetchius]

Yes, I understand.

[Frank]

You can google up your question:

[Vic Smith]

You'll have to get estimates. Or do it yourself. It's not overly hard to do if you take your time and use the right materials.

[catalpa]

Saying you are in Central NJ isn't very useful.

Replacing 20 bricks in Princeton will cost way more than 20 bricks in Trenton.

[Dan Espen]

To get a rough idea, estimate job time and material cost.

My not so educated guess is 2 guys all day for a job like that. Not sure about typical rates, but maybe $100/hr.

Bricks are pretty cheap unless you have something unusual. Google says .50 a brick.

So maybe $1700.

[Arnie Goetchius]

Thanks for the link. Very helpful.

[Arnie Goetchius]

Thanks for the rough idea. As this is a two story house with most of the bricks to be replaced closer to the top of the chimney, I would assume that scaffolding would have to be used so that would increase the cost by 10% or 20% or so?

[Dan Espen]

Set up, tear down, rental on the scaffolds, add another day at least. Might double the cost. It's harder to do the work climbing up and down.

[Peter]

If you are moving soon, just have the bricks replaced. If you are planning to remain in the house more than about 4-5 years, you need to take care of the reason why those bricks spalled - water seeping into the bricks and then expanding/contracting as the water freezes/thaws in winter weather. The problem is more common when the chimney vents a fireplace that is rarely/never used, or vents a high efficiency furnace where the exhaust gases are much cooler than from traditional furnaces. There are several reasons why water can get into the bricks. A competent chimney repair person will know how to diagnose and treat the cause. Often the problem is as simple to deal with as a new, larger chimney cap. Sometimes there has been a loss of mortar and you need to have all the mortar repointed. Just replacing the bricks is likely not a long term fix.

[trader_4]

Good point on figuring out if there is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed. One common problem is people replace an old gas furnace with a high efficiency, direct vent one. That vents separately, but that leaves the existing gas water heater on the old chimney, which is now over-sized and condensation that doesn't get cleared results. Those chimneys should have a liner installed.