The chimney at my house is pulling away. It was built of standard cement blocks, I believe they are sixteen inches square, with tile liner. The blocks are faced with fieldstone. It is, of course, attached to the side of the house. The house is of frame construction. I am pretty sure the footer is settling. It has moved away from the house about three quarters of an inch. The chimney was built about ten years ago and until now, there has not been a problem. I really, really need ideas as to how I can correct this problem. Thanks. David

Considering the weight of this chimney it usually is above a normal DIY job. I'd get 3 bids from masons and then decide if its within my skill bank. I personally would not tackle this job, it's beyond mud jacking.

Hi Black jack. I build these for a living.
The basic problem is the footer is to small. The best to put the footer is dig down to bottom of the house footer and steal pin the new footer there. A chimney such as yours is called a free standing chimney. When the chimney footer is too small it pulls away like yours. When masons lay block on a footer they are used to putting a 10 inch block on a 24 inch footer so when it comes to add a chimney footer they have a problem with making it wider not to mention digging a heck of a lot of more dirt out.

The footer for a block chimney such as yours should be 8' thick pined into basement footer or the basement block wall if you just go down below freeze. The footer needs to be min 3 feet wide and away from the house 4 feet to keep the front from tilting away from the house. Big footer hence free standing chimney on a free standing footer.

You could put straps on but that doesn't fix the problem. Some people pull the chimney back and re tighten the straps overtime but then straps rust. Or just looks bad.

The other effect on a chimney along the side of a house is a downspout dumps out above it if there is a slope to wards that side on the house and keeps the ground wet and soft and can effect the footer.

Get it taken down and bigger footer.

Signed 21 Boat

If I Helped To Answer Your Question Please Rate My Answer