Does any one have any experience of consolidating tall, one hundred year
old, ornamental brick chimneys?  Above the roof line, these in question are
one wythe of brick around terracotta flues.  The hard pointing mortar is
cracked and often missing, but the stacks appear stable.  When the
repointing mortar is raked out the lime mortar behind appears badly
deteriorated.  The contractor has the Owner convinced that the only solution
is to take the stacks down and rebuild them. Besides the cost there is some
risk in this since many of the bricks are specials which could be hard to
get replaced. Is there any miracle consolidant that works on lime mortar?