Stucco chimney in Washington, DC

Here's how we did it:

This gaping gap was right over badly damaged brick.

This gaping gap was right over badly damaged brick.


This gaping gap was right over badly damaged brick.

Stucco stop flashing is nailed on the brick

I made a bunch of this last summer just for chimneys.

Stucco stop flashing is nailed on the brick

Badly spalled brick are rescued by using a lot of flex con in the scratch coat

Flex con is an acrylic bonding admixture I use a lot.

White portland is used for fast completion and strength

White portland is used for fast completion and strength

White portland is the ticket for small jobs. It sets fast and allows for same day or next day completion.

Chimney is filled out 3/4 thick and a dash on texture applied

Chimney is filled out 3/4" thick and a dash on texture applied

The texture on the right doesn't match the texture on the left, so we did something in between.

We always, always re coat the cap on a chimney.

We always, always re coat the cap on a chimney.

Deteriorated or poorly done caps are a large source of stucco failure. We embedded two quarters in the cap, one heads up and one tails up.

Fancy copper bay window roof was leaking like crazy.

Fancy copper bay window roof was leaking like crazy.

The flange on the roof was put on the stucco, instead of underneath. Here, we cut the stucco back to the brick, and pushed the flange against the brick.

We overlapped the flange with our stucco stop flashing and filled in.

We overlapped the flange with our stucco stop flashing and filled in.

The roof flange was attached to the wall with lead anchors and goop. Lead anchors pull out of soft bricks and stucco over time. The goop failed, too, of course.

A view of our flashing and finished patch.

A view of our flashing and finished patch.

The flashing is like building a roof over the edge of the roof. The stucco overlaps the top flange of the flashing.

We put drip edges on the roof.

We put drip edges on the roof.

This was a small job, but it gave me the opportunity to cover a lot of important details.