Q:Some years ago, painters mistakenly painted one of the brick chimneys on my house black after I asked them to paint a stovepipe black. I am told that the black paint cannot be removed. Is there ...

Ludwig: Waterproofing a brick chimney. Jerry Ludwig. Three years ago I had to replace half my chimney at a cost of thousands of dollars because of crumbling mortar and cracked bricks.

Moisture causing brick to flake off chimney. Published: Aug. 28, 2007, 1:55 a.m. By . Zolton Cohen | The Grand Rapids Press; Q. Our home was built in 1937 with a coal furnace located in the basement.

Cleaning the actual bricks in your brick fireplace is essential for both aesthetic and safety purposes, and, unlike chimney cleaning, it's actually surprisingly easy to do on your own — if you ...

Q: A while back you had a column about what to do if inside or around your fireplace shows a lot of whiteness. My brickwork shows white; there is crud inside both upstairs and downstairs ...