u/JJmeatsack

I’m pretty handy but new to homeownership and there’s a lot that I’m not sure how to address.

We’ve seen some cracking along the exterior wall of our house, specifically under the deck. It’s not too “bad” but I would love for it to not get worse.

The chunk in the last picture is the only one that when you knock it feels like there’s some space behind it. Everything else just reads as a hairline crack

Any tips of how I can potentially fix this would be appreciated- obviously, my goal is for it to match and not seem patchy.

Also, plan to paint the exterior walls as well - was reading about loxon - there’s just something better to seal it and help prevent more cracking?

Hi Fireplace Folk - we just moved into a new place and while i’d like to burn wood, a gas inset seems like a safer and more logical solution.

I grew up in apartments and know nothing about this - what i do know, is that our chimney has an “orphaned flu”, needs to be repointed and the top (crown?) is covered in moss and cracking.

Any thoughts on models and costs? Also worth noting, fireplace is located directly above our basement hot water heater so tapping into the gas-line should be fairly simple (for a plumber) - also, in addition to looking nice, we’d like it as heat source as well

Thank You!