We have a 2-up/2-down terraced house built in 1905 with a restored,
but unused, fireplace. We've been living there for five years, and
over the last few months have had a couple of small falls of brick
spalling from the inside of the chimney (from up near the pot by the
sounds of it). The latest bit was about the size of a cigarette pack.
It didn't seem damp, although it's been fairly rainy here in London
this summer, obviously. I was a little surprised to see that it was
brick (with a coating of soot), and not a bit of parging though - are
chimneys of this type not parged?

Anyway, there's a vent installed in the breast wall in the bedroom, so
it's getting some air (and the fireplace is open). The chimney pot
itself looks OK (and is capped off with a vent it looks like, but I've
not inspected it properly).

I wonder if there's much that can be done, or is some internal
spalling inevitable after a while?

"BlueJohn"  wrote in message
news:7cccb94f-da9b-4752-ad20-ef3603f27e60@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
> We have a 2-up/2-down terraced house built in 1905 with a restored,
> but unused, fireplace. We've been living there for five years, and
> over the last few months have had a couple of small falls of brick
> spalling from the inside of the chimney (from up near the pot by the
> sounds of it). The latest bit was about the size of a cigarette
pack.
> It didn't seem damp, although it's been fairly rainy here in London
> this summer, obviously. I was a little surprised to see that it was
> brick (with a coating of soot), and not a bit of parging though -
are
> chimneys of this type not parged?
>
> Anyway, there's a vent installed in the breast wall in the bedroom,
so
> it's getting some air (and the fireplace is open). The chimney pot
> itself looks OK (and is capped off with a vent it looks like, but
I've
> not inspected it properly).
>
> I wonder if there's much that can be done, or is some internal
> spalling inevitable after a while?

Brickwork in chimneys attracts moisture as it will be saturated in
sulphates from the fumes of yesterdays coal fires. Damp bricks and
frost promote spalling. Most houses of the 1905 era that I've been
involved with had lime render inside flues - I think in later times
the parging was ommitted but I'm no expert

AWEM

On Sep 14, 3:55 pm, "Andrew Mawson"
 wrote:
> "BlueJohn"  wrote in message
>
> news:7cccb94f-da9b-4752-ad20-ef3603f27e60@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > We have a 2-up/2-down terraced house built in 1905 with a restored,
> > but unused, fireplace. We've been living there for five years, and
> > over the last few months have had a couple of small falls of brick
> > spalling from the inside of the chimney (from up near the pot by the
> > sounds of it). The latest bit was about the size of a cigarette
> pack.
> > It didn't seem damp, although it's been fairly rainy here in London
> > this summer, obviously. I was a little surprised to see that it was
> > brick (with a coating of soot), and not a bit of parging though -
> are
> > chimneys of this type not parged?
>
> > Anyway, there's a vent installed in the breast wall in the bedroom,
> so
> > it's getting some air (and the fireplace is open). The chimney pot
> > itself looks OK (and is capped off with a vent it looks like, but
> I've
> > not inspected it properly).
>
> > I wonder if there's much that can be done, or is some internal
> > spalling inevitable after a while?
>
> Brickwork in chimneys attracts moisture as it will be saturated in
> sulphates from the fumes of yesterdays coal fires. Damp bricks and
> frost promote spalling. Most houses of the 1905 era that I've been
> involved with had lime render inside flues - I think in later times
> the parging was ommitted but I'm no expert
>
> AWEM

An OK. Thanks.

Do you think it means the chimney might need some attention, or can I
live with a bit of crumbling for the next couple of decades?