old brick chimney with decorative anchor bolt plates?

16 years ago

Hey, am I glad I found this great forum! I just finished perusing the post on restored craftsman fireplaces, and you folks have excellent skill!

Okay: I'm posting for some info on two things - the first is sealing old chimney brick, and the second is a source for old decorative brick anchor bolt plates, like the star and diamond ones (or any other shape, quite frankly) like are described in this thread on the old house forum.

I'm not a stranger to restoration, nor am I a pro; my dad taught me everything I know, and I just enjoy the heck out of the work. I find a great deal of peace in it. The finished product gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

My wife and I just bought a house built in 1911 in Oklahoma City, OK - it has been "restored" by an interior designer who did a lot of remodeling work (refinishing original wood floors, painting, new fixtures, new central air, some new electrical and plumbing, added a new roof on top of shake). One thing that he opened up but paid no attention to was the tall chimney running the height of the house. It's 96 year old red brick - I don't know the composition or type, unfortunately, but it crumbles a little and leaves lots of dust when touched. It doesn't crumble to the point where large chunks come off, but it does powder a bit.

Here's some images:

Image 1

Image 2

I'd love some advice on a product that would seal the powder/crumblings in to the brick and give it a nice shine. My first instinct would be some sort of polycrylic or urethane product - am I far off with this? Quikrete, UGL, and Behr all make some type of semigloss masonry sealer, which I am considering. Have any of you had luck with this type of project?

The second part of this post regards the picture with the black circle about 3/4 the way up the chimney; the renovator filled the heating holes on this chimney with Great Stuff and painted it black - terrible! My idea for this comes from the forum post regarding the decorative Star Anchor bolts... I would love to get three of the decorative anchor plates and mount them over the holes as an architectural embellishment. This would not be in any sense a structural use - is there anywhere that you folks know about that sells either new or old plates like this? I think they'd look awesome to cover up the holes, which are about 8 to 10 inches in diameter.

Any help on either of these things would rock, and I look forward to contributing to this forum!

Jim

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Comments (4)

bulldinkie
16 years ago
We bought 4 of plate and star over at Renningers antique store in Lancaster Pa.We used them on barn stone wall to brace them.Ours are about that size,Maybe call guys that are into restoration.Our guys have a shop with just about anything you need to restore a home.
We had a mason with the restoration company we used come in and check out,repair,repoint etc our chimneys.
jimmyhutch
Original Author
16 years ago
Another good piece of information is that this chimney is completely unusable - it's sealed off and not used at all.
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I think the OP wants a serious answer, not this nonsense. The device is called a "wall anchor", "anchor plate" or "retaining plate". They came in any number of shapes, most very utilitarian, but some were fanciful, like this one. The most common shape in the U.S. was the five-pointed star. In England it was commonly a circular anchor called a "pattress plate" which eventually became the name for the anchors no matter their shape. Their original purpose was to keep masonry walls in place. Left to their own devices, large brick and stone walls tend to bow over time. To keep them from bowing, a heavy iron tie-rod was run entirely through the building (usually inside the floors where it could hot be seen) and bolted to an anchor plate on the outside of opposite masonry walls to keep the walls in place. Anchor plates were a common feature of 19th century brick and stone buildings that were more than one story high -- especially buildings built with the old lime mortar which was not very strong. When walls stopped being made entirely of masonry, they lost their purpose, but are still affixed to walls, or in this case, the chimney to make them look like old masonry. They are still being made, used primarily to replace worn-out existing anchors on old buildings. One source is Allied Bolt & Screw. Most likely the one you have is purely decorative, but don't count on it. Brick chimneys are still solid masonry and still need bracing. So the anchor may be structural as well as decorative.
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bas157
16 years ago
You can probably just go to a fab shop that has a plasma cutter, laser cutter or water jet and have them cut a design you like out of a flat plat of steel or aluminum. Just find something you like and see what'd it cost to cut. Something cut with a free hand plasma cutter would probably be the cheapest, the other two would probably involve programming the computers to control the cutters=more money
jaymeguokas
16 years ago
I've seen star bolts at flea markets and antique stores. A good architectural antique store or salvage place would have them (in Philly there's a place called Restore). I spent last weekend removing plaster from a chimney, cleaning / scraping bricks with a wire brush, and then spraying them with a masonry sealer (Manowar makes a good one, so does Behr, in both Wet-look and low-lustre). 1 or 2 coats will give them a coating so they aren't crumbling and dusty. I would mix some mortar and fill the hole with old bricks.

If this chimney is a chase for gases from your heater, it is important that the hole is filled . sealed and not just covered up with something decorative. -cheers

old brick chimney with decorative anchor bolt plates?

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bulldinkie

jimmyhutch
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old brick chimney with decorative anchor bolt plates?

Comments (4)

bulldinkie

jimmyhutchOriginal Author

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bas157

jaymeguokas

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jimmyhutch
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