Rogues Gallery

The lashing wire is pulling the two masonry columns together with a lot of force. The photograph was chosen to illustrate this installation mistake because it shows the situation clearly. In this case the masonry is probably strong enough to take it, but where there is a gap between two chimneys or other columns the lashing wire should never go around both. This sometimes arises on terraced houses, where the buildings, although appearing to be linked, actually stand an inch or so apart. What appears to be one shared chimney stack is in fact two separate ones. A tight lashing wire pulling the two stacks together can seriously damage old brickwork.

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