Chimney Help, Please

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jf89
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Chimney Help, Please

Post by jf89 »

We recently bought a new home and ahead of the winter decided to have the wood burning fireplace cleaned and inspected. The video inspectors just left, and their finding was that we needed to have some minor work done. There are some minor cracks in a couple of the clay linings and some missing mortar in a few locations (the lowest mortar joint is in great condition, which to me seems like the most important). I did some research beforehand and have experience on brick and mortar inspections, so having watched the video inspection on their screen I agree with everything they said about the condition of the chimney. My question is about the need to do this work due to the risk of fire and the value of the options presented.

Before I get into the options, here are our assumptions:
*We know things change in life, but we essentially intend on being in this house forever.
*We have the cash to do any of these options.
*We will get a second opinion on costs, but the numbers provided were lower than any of my research suggested they would be, so we'll run with these for this exercise.

So here are our options as presented:
Option 1 - Insulated Stainless Steel Liner ($4000)
Lasts "forever" and should help prevent draft to get a fire started more quickly (no idea if there are significant drafts down this chimney yet as we haven't used it, but we haven't noticed any draft with the flue closed and the weather starting to get chilly at night). Will withstand a chimney fire in the future should there be creosote buildup between cleanings.

Does anyone have experience with a new liner? Are there any big advantages to the insulated stainless steel? How long will it really last? Seems to me that this material should have significantly less area for creosote to hide/build-up, so cleaning should be needed less often. Any truth to that?

Option 2 - Fireguard Re-Mortar Existing Liner ($1800)
Lasts 10+ years at which point we might need to do it again. Will not be able to withstand a chimney fire in the future should there be creosote buildup between cleanings.

Any experience with the re-mortaring? Seems to me that this should perform/last similar to the old system and we might be back in this same situation in as little as ten years.

Option 3 - Do Nothing/Delay ($0 Now/Option 1 or 2 in the Future)
This is where I really need some help from others. I asked him what the dangers of doing nothing or pushing this back a couple years would be. He laughed and said that he can't tell me that it'll be fine (seemed like he wanted to, though). He said there's always a small chance of a chimney fire regardless of what condition it's in, but our chances are slightly higher in this condition. It could last us years like this or we could have that fluke incident. I tend to lean towards the "let it ride" side of things, so this option is particularly pulling at me (followed by a new stainless steel lining in a couple years).

Anybody with a chimney inspection/maintenance certification out there? :D My gut says the odds are that we'll be fine as-is, but I'm looking for somebody without anything financial riding on their answer to maybe quantify this risk for me (are we looking at fractions of a percent or closer to 50/50?). Can we reduce this risk by just cleaning the chimney more often?

My biggest concern is actually that there is an incident then the insurance company denies the claim, because we had the inspection done and were told that work needed to be done and ignored the advice. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks in advance for any help!
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teacher5
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by teacher5 »

I will post my experience with this, and what I did. Let me start by saying I am NOT an expert on chimneys.

I had concrete block chimney (30 years old). There were some small cracks between blocks, there was also a visible crack in the flue going through the wall. I spoke with a friend who is a firefighter. He told me to replace the chimney with double wall stainless, and triple wall through the wall. I did. It did not cost much more than the prices you are quoting. It was 3 years ago. I forget the exact price. Just my opinion, consider this option.
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jf89
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jf89 »

teacher5 wrote:I will post my experience with this, and what I did. Let me start by saying I am NOT an expert on chimneys.

I had concrete block chimney (30 years old). There were some small cracks between blocks, there was also a visible crack in the flue going through the wall. I spoke with a friend who is a firefighter. He told me to replace the chimney with double wall stainless, and triple wall through the wall. I did. It did not cost much more than the prices you are quoting. It was 3 years ago. I forget the exact price. Just my opinion, consider this option.
Thanks for the input teacher5!

Do you do anything differently maintaining the stainless liner vs your old blocks?
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BeerTooth
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by BeerTooth »

how often do you plan to use the fireplace? Significant home heating, or just occasional weekend ambiance?

Once you experience the lousy efficiency of an open fireplace, you may decide to use it very infrequently, in which case the buildup of creosote would take many many years to become a problem.

If, on the other hand, you decide to install a woodstove or insert to get some real heat, you will end up installing the insulated stainless liner as part of tat home improvement project.
teacher5
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by teacher5 »

I think the maintenance is the same for both styles. I have a brush and run it through at least once in the early fall before I start using. I try to get up on the roof and brush it out once more during the winter or early spring, when there is no snow on the roof. I remove the inside pipe to clean it and the flue every fall. Very little buildup with the new EPA wood stove (compared to my old stove).
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Kosmo
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by Kosmo »

I wouldn't use the fireplace until you do one of those actions. I need to do the same and I'm leaning towards the stainless steel liner.
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jf89
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jf89 »

TylerDavis wrote:how often do you plan to use the fireplace? Significant home heating, or just occasional weekend ambiance?

Once you experience the lousy efficiency of an open fireplace, you may decide to use it very infrequently, in which case the buildup of creosote would take many many years to become a problem.

If, on the other hand, you decide to install a woodstove or insert to get some real heat, you will end up installing the insulated stainless liner as part of tat home improvement project.
This isn't a primary source of heat. "Weekend ambiance" is probably a nice way to put it.
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BeerTooth
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by BeerTooth »

The ease of cleaning is about the same - masonry or stainless. Yes you can reduce creosote buildup by cleaning more often which costs only, $150? per session?

Only you can make the call based on the video inspection and your safety assessment, but I can say personally there are a lot of priorities in my budget that I would apply $4k to before addressing an "A-/B+" chimney that is only used a few times per winter.
Mingus
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by Mingus »

jf89 wrote:
TylerDavis wrote:how often do you plan to use the fireplace? Significant home heating, or just occasional weekend ambiance?

Once you experience the lousy efficiency of an open fireplace, you may decide to use it very infrequently, in which case the buildup of creosote would take many many years to become a problem.

If, on the other hand, you decide to install a woodstove or insert to get some real heat, you will end up installing the insulated stainless liner as part of tat home improvement project.
This isn't a primary source of heat. "Weekend ambiance" is probably a nice way to put it.
Ugh. Get an insert and a stainless steel liner.

Actually try it out like it is first, and and then savior the ashy aroma of fresh smoke in the house and furniture, on your clothes, and in your hair. Then decide to either not use it or investing the money in an insert.
Nicolas
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by Nicolas »

Our fireplace was falling apart in 2010, the bricks in the firebox were losing their mortar and threatening to collapse. So I called in a chimney repair specialist. He gave us an estimate and also ran a video camera up the flue. He found a crack or cracks partway up and evidence of a previous fire. He recommended installing a stainless steel liner and quoted us something like $4K to install it. I called my insurance agent and he said it would be covered minus our deductible but then he would have to add to our policy that we had had a house fire which would naturally drive up the premium as we were now more risky. This fire must've happened before we bought the house as we never noticed anything. I weighed this fact against the insurance payment and decided to accept the payment and do the work. We also moved our damper from the bottom of the chimney to the top, with the use of a steel cable on the inside of the firebox to open and close the new spring-loaded damper at the top. Except for the top-mounted damper, which I like, I haven't noticed any difference in the function of the fireplace/chimney from before we had the liner installed, though I suppose I do feel safer.
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jf89
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jf89 »

Mingus wrote:Ugh. Get an insert and a stainless steel liner.

Actually try it out like it is first, and and then savior the ashy aroma of fresh smoke in the house and furniture, on your clothes, and in your hair. Then decide to either not use it or investing the money in an insert.
That additional cost wasn't an option, but why do you recommend it?

To me if we're not using it as a primary heat source, the insert seems like a waste of money. The family room with the fireplace is also moderately separated from the rest of the house. In order to heat anywhere else in the house, we'd need to have that room boiling. As I said a few comments up "weekend ambiance" is the primary use of this fireplace.

This is the first time we're using this fireplace, but I've used many fireplaces before and coming away smelling like a bonfire has never been a problem. I'm curious if you're just talking about your previous use of a deficient fireplace that was allowing/forcing smoke back into the house or if you meant something else. I'm confident that the chimney is clear to will allow proper ventilation and the masonry surrounding the liner is not cracked to allow smoke back into the house via the chimney.
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jharkin
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jharkin »

All of the options sound like a lot of works if the real issue is truly just some superficial cracks in the mortar between the clay flue tiles.

First off, by "drafts" I assume you are talking about the chimney downdrafting when its cool. This is most often a problem for exterior chimneys and basement fireplaces (a basement fireplace connected to an exterior chimney is the worst of all). Is this chimney interior or exterior? what level?

Second - regardless of whether you have a metal or clay liner, creosote will build up over time if your operating practices are bad. You prevent creosote by burning DRY wood and keeping a hot fire. The fire should have strong flames, should never sizzle and you should see mostly heat waves coming out of hte chimney outside. Visible clouds of smoke and a smell in the house means something is wrong. A good fire in a well drafting fireplace does NOT smell - unfortunately builders forgot how to build a proper fireplace in the last 50 years and nobody burns dry wood :( Dry wood means cut split and stacked out in the sun for 1-2 years to dry. It does not mean some guy with a pickup selling a pile of "seasoned" logs.

Third - no flue system is chimney fire proof. If you have a fire you will need to get it inspected and repaired regardless of masonry or metal. The best defense is never having the chimney fire in the first place - burn DRY wood and CLEAN regularly.

...


If you are keeping the open fireplace just for ambiance fires I would not bother with an insulated steel liner. Liners are great for inserts, but for an open fireplace it takes some work to tie it in properly to retain the original smoke chamber/smoke shelf above the damper (and don't let them rip all that out and just have the liner end in the open firebox - it will never draft right afterward).
Do the liner if you ever decide to put an insert or stove into the chimney.

I don't know about the fireguard process but that sounds expensive to re mortar the flue tiles. Sweeps can re-mortar the joints in place with a simple method where they basically drop a kind of balloon attached to a rope down the chimney from the top and then dump a bunch of mortar on it. As they pull the balloon up the flue, it conforms to the walls and acts as a squeegee to force the mortar into the joints between tiles. The entire job only takes a couple hours and is done entirely from the roof. No reason I see that it should cost anywhere near $1800. Maybe if they are also re-pointing brick on the outside and are redoing the mortar parging in the smoke box it might add up to that...

If you have more detailed question sign up and ask on the hearth.com forums:
http://www.hearth.com/talk/
dave_k
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by dave_k »

Here's a cheap DIY approach, but please note that I am not an expert on this and YMMV:

Our house has a 90 year old brick chimney that the previous owner said was unsafe and leaked, and they had not been using the fireplace. We wanted to be able to use it, so I put the largest diameter cheap single wall steel stovepipe that would fit in there, shaped the bottom to seal it above the damper, and filled the area around it with a vermiculite/concrete mix for insulation and sealing. It has worked great for several years - no leaks and the chimney doesn't get too hot. We only use it about 20 times a year though, and only for fun because it's very inefficient and cools off the rest of the drafty old house.
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by mrc »

Mingus wrote: ... Actually try it out like it is first, and and then savior the ashy aroma of fresh smoke in the house and furniture, on your clothes, and in your hair. Then decide to either not use it or investing the money in an insert.
And dirty walls. Sad to say we never light a fire in the fireplace any more after we repainted. The rest of the house gets cold, the walls (and everything in the house) get sooty. And the firebox is too small to really get a long-lasting fire going. I might consider a gas insert for ambiance (if we had gas).
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

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Topic Author
jf89
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jf89 »

mrc wrote:
Mingus wrote: ... Actually try it out like it is first, and and then savior the ashy aroma of fresh smoke in the house and furniture, on your clothes, and in your hair. Then decide to either not use it or investing the money in an insert.
And dirty walls. Sad to say we never light a fire in the fireplace any more after we repainted. The rest of the house gets cold, the walls (and everything in the house) get sooty. And the firebox is too small to really get a long-lasting fire going. I might consider a gas insert for ambiance (if we had gas).
Just like I said to Mingus, I have never had or seen this problem. From what I understand, smoke, soot, and strong smells getting back into the house are likely signs of a deficiency like a dirty or clogged chimney. Perhaps that's why the two of you have such negative opinions of wood burning fireplaces. Did you ever have these cleaned or inspected thoroughly? Did you maybe close the flue immediately after so the smoke had nowhere else to go but in the house?

Regardless, if those are the only reasons to swap out for an insert, I think I can say that we won't be spending the money on a conversion. I'm open if there are other benefits related to my original question, though.
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user5027
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by user5027 »

We have a wood burning stove in front of our fireplace. The stove had a pipe on the back that went up the flue and ended after about four or five feet. We have an access on the outside of the chimney about four feet above the floor. Before brushing the chimney from the roof I always opened the access and covered the pipe with newspaper to keep debris from going down the pipe. After brushing I would remove the newspaper and clear the debris. This year I noticed insulation around the pipe had fallen away. We always have a technician do an annual service in the summer on the wood stove. I use to do it but after time the cast iron pieces tend to warp and become difficult to take apart and put back together. This year I asked him to check out the insulation around the pipe. He saw the set up and said while it met code when the stove was installed it did not today. He said a chimney fire would have been very difficult to control and recommended they install an insulated Forever Flex 304L chimney liner for $2,500.

http://www.olympiachimney.com/forever-flex-304l

We have a two story home so I guess the liner was around 25 feet long.

We've not fired the stove yet. We usually burn 3-4 chords each season. They said with the pipe running direct between stove and roof the draft will improve and the insulation will cut down on creosote since the surface will be warmer. Creosote forms when the hot moist air condenses on the cold flue surface.
jharkin
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jharkin »

jf89 wrote:
mrc wrote:
Mingus wrote: ... Actually try it out like it is first, and and then savior the ashy aroma of fresh smoke in the house and furniture, on your clothes, and in your hair. Then decide to either not use it or investing the money in an insert.
And dirty walls. Sad to say we never light a fire in the fireplace any more after we repainted. The rest of the house gets cold, the walls (and everything in the house) get sooty. And the firebox is too small to really get a long-lasting fire going. I might consider a gas insert for ambiance (if we had gas).
Just like I said to Mingus, I have never had or seen this problem. From what I understand, smoke, soot, and strong smells getting back into the house are likely signs of a deficiency like a dirty or clogged chimney. Perhaps that's why the two of you have such negative opinions of wood burning fireplaces. Did you ever have these cleaned or inspected thoroughly? Did you maybe close the flue immediately after so the smoke had nowhere else to go but in the house?

Regardless, if those are the only reasons to swap out for an insert, I think I can say that we won't be spending the money on a conversion. I'm open if there are other benefits related to my original question, though.

A clogged chimney is possible, but more likely its wet wood and a poorly designed modern fireplace.


The best fireplaces are whats called a Rumford style, named for the late Count Rumford who came up with the design in the 1790s. A rumford is very tall and shallow with angled side walls and a smoothly sloped throat entering a narrow smoke shelf. The angled sides radiate heat into the room much better than a square box and the sloping throat and narrow flue accelerate the flue gases to promote strong draft.

A rumford style fireplace is on the left in this image.

Image

For whatever reason, in the 20th century we forgot how to build them like this and modern practice is to use deep short fireboxes with oversized flues as seen on the right - and they draft horrible. People burning smokey fires with wet wood only makes this tendency worse. Any time I walk into a house built in the 60s or later with the fireplace lit I know in an instant from the smell.

HOwever in my own place iwth its original c.1800 fireplaces we have never once smelled anything, have no issues with soot or dust, and my neighbors are all convinced I dont actually use the massive stack of firewood out back because they dont see the clouds of billowing smoke they expect.


[disclaimer - neither design is really that great if heating your house is the primary goal. The conventional fireplace probably is negative efficient, pulling more heat out of the house than it makes. The rumford is better and might be as much as 10-20% efficient. An insert or wood stove can be as high as 80%]
Mingus
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by Mingus »

I've lived in one place with a fireplace. And I've known or been at a few peoples houses with a fireplace, so my experience is limited.

The place I lived was a 1950s, well built, brick home with a fireplace in the center of the house. A roomate liked to burn those presto logs. Made the house stink.

A friend growing up had a huge fire place in an early 1900s home that was mounted on an exterior wall. I faintly remember the "wood smell" in the home, but not like hanging around a bon fire.

Another friends parents had wood burning furnace. I remember the house had a funky wood smell in the basement where the furnace was located.

A cabinet shop where I had some work done had a wood stove. The cabinet shop smelled great. They were burning Doug Fir, I asked.

Maybe only doug fir and other certain perfumey trees smell good while being burned, and presto logs smell like the devil.
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jf89
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jf89 »

jharkin wrote:All of the options sound like a lot of works if the real issue is truly just some superficial cracks in the mortar between the clay flue tiles.

First off, by "drafts" I assume you are talking about the chimney downdrafting when its cool. This is most often a problem for exterior chimneys and basement fireplaces (a basement fireplace connected to an exterior chimney is the worst of all). Is this chimney interior or exterior? what level?

Second - regardless of whether you have a metal or clay liner, creosote will build up over time if your operating practices are bad. You prevent creosote by burning DRY wood and keeping a hot fire. The fire should have strong flames, should never sizzle and you should see mostly heat waves coming out of hte chimney outside. Visible clouds of smoke and a smell in the house means something is wrong. A good fire in a well drafting fireplace does NOT smell - unfortunately builders forgot how to build a proper fireplace in the last 50 years and nobody burns dry wood :( Dry wood means cut split and stacked out in the sun for 1-2 years to dry. It does not mean some guy with a pickup selling a pile of "seasoned" logs.

Third - no flue system is chimney fire proof. If you have a fire you will need to get it inspected and repaired regardless of masonry or metal. The best defense is never having the chimney fire in the first place - burn DRY wood and CLEAN regularly.

...

If you have more detailed question sign up and ask on the hearth.com forums:
http://www.hearth.com/talk/
You use the word "superficial" for the cracks. In a structural sense, the cracks in the tile and holes in the mortar certainly are superficial. Are you using this word in that same way, or are you saying that missing mortar and minor cracks in the tile aren't much of an additional concern for a chimney fire?

1) This is an exterior chimney on the first floor and the home is only one story in that section.

2) I'm not sure what the previous owner burned, but they left a big pile of wood stacked too tightly to breathe that was covered in pine needles and leaves. Most of the wood on the inside of the pile was damp to the touch after weeks without rain. I salvaged what wasn't rotted, added some previously seasoned wood, and built a covering to stack them properly and keep the needles and leaves away. The plan for now is to pick up a moisture meter to split and test a few sticks to see what condition they're in before burning, but I'm thinking that we'll have to be a bit more selective this year in when we want a fire as most of this wood likely isn't dry enough yet.

3) The chimney sweep didn't note any indication of previous chimney fire.

I checked out hearth.com, and my big takeaway was that I'm way more thankful for this forum. There are often topics I am researching that I choose not to ask here, as it's well outside the expertise of the group. But trying to find other forums with such an active community, organized wiki, and good search function is nearly impossible. No offense intended to hearth.com (especially if it's another home for you online)... it provided some good information on a few topics that I've bookmarked to come back to later.
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JerseyBoy
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by JerseyBoy »

How old is the house? If it is 30 to 40 years old, then a chimney relining is probably justified (things don't last forever!). Judging from the information you provided, a cast-in-place chimney relining technique sounds appropriate. I would get 3 or 4 quotes from contractors certified by the manufacturers of the relining systems and compare them. The written report you have from the chimney sweep essentially says that the chimney has several leakage paths through which flue gas can escape into the house and that it needs to be repaired to make it safe, regardless of how often you use it. P.S. I am a retired oil refinery engineer with many years of furnace and boiler experience. Good Luck!
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (chimney).
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jharkin
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jharkin »

jf89 wrote: You use the word "superficial" for the cracks. In a structural sense, the cracks in the tile and holes in the mortar certainly are superficial. Are you using this word in that same way, or are you saying that missing mortar and minor cracks in the tile aren't much of an additional concern for a chimney fire?

1) This is an exterior chimney on the first floor and the home is only one story in that section.

2) I'm not sure what the previous owner burned, but they left a big pile of wood stacked too tightly to breathe that was covered in pine needles and leaves. Most of the wood on the inside of the pile was damp to the touch after weeks without rain. I salvaged what wasn't rotted, added some previously seasoned wood, and built a covering to stack them properly and keep the needles and leaves away. The plan for now is to pick up a moisture meter to split and test a few sticks to see what condition they're in before burning, but I'm thinking that we'll have to be a bit more selective this year in when we want a fire as most of this wood likely isn't dry enough yet.

3) The chimney sweep didn't note any indication of previous chimney fire.

I checked out hearth.com, and my big takeaway was that I'm way more thankful for this forum. There are often topics I am researching that I choose not to ask here, as it's well outside the expertise of the group. But trying to find other forums with such an active community, organized wiki, and good search function is nearly impossible. No offense intended to hearth.com (especially if it's another home for you online)... it provided some good information on a few topics that I've bookmarked to come back to later.
I probably was a bit loose with te use of the word superficial... By your wording it sounded like there was just some evidence of the mortar joints between tiles falling out. Without pictures its hard to know for sure but if that's the only issue I would just have them re mortar it which I was surprised would cost $1800.

Yes, its true that damage to the flue tiles makes things more susceptible to damage in the case of a chimney fire, but if the fire gets through the tiles it still has to go through a couple layers of brick so I would not panic yet.



1 - Yes, exterior chimneys tend to have downdraft problems because they are cold from direct exposure to the outside air. You might have to do things like the hold a lit newspaper up in the damper trick to kick start the draft when you lite a fire. The idea is to get it hot as quick as you can. I always preferred houses with interior chimneys as this is not an issue and you are not sending half the heat right outside. But you have what you have so lets figure out how to work with it.


2 - Sounds like you know what you are doing. Testing splits with the MM ideally you are looking for a reading under 20% on a resplit to find wood that will burn well. Stuff that reads 25% will burn somewhat OK, but you will need to keep the fire hot to avoid sizzling/smoke. Anything that's reading close to or above 30% dont even bother... You will struggle to get it to light.

3- I mentioned hearth because its the bogleheads of the wood heating world. May not be organized like this place but its the single best repository of info on wood heating topics on line. There are lots of professionals on there including certified sweeps and representatives from the large wood stove/insert/prefab fireplace companies that will answer questions directly (for example the Blaze King VP of engineering and the Englander Stove Works head of customer service are active members I've interacted with). If you decide you need more detail advice a post of this question over there with photos from the inspection would net you some good detailed advice.
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flossy21
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by flossy21 »

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned a third option for you. Why not install a wood burning insert? Basically you get the enjoyment of the fire and the heat stays in the house where you need it. I'm no expert but with a direct vent type system you wouldn't need to do anything to your existing flue.

This would be a nice secondary heating option if you are in an area that is prone to power outages.

Here's a pic of how it works...

Image

I got the picture from here --> http://www.efireplacestore.com/fireplac ... guide.html
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by LadyGeek »

^^^ That's what I have, which is a wood-burning fireplace insert, fireplace surround, and 19" pipe liner to the chimney and cap.

We added this insert during a major home renovation. It was a good solution to fix problems with an old home needing fireplace / chimney work.
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Bob B
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by Bob B »

As a former firefighter I implore you not to just live with it. I have fought many devastating chimney fires.

Since you are interested only in "weekend ambiance', have you considered installing a gas insert if you have natural gas or propane available? It would be considerably less expensive than Option 1 and somewhat less expensive than Option 2 (depending on need/difficulty to run gas line and height of chimney for liner.) We love our insert for the convenience and looks (and heat.)
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jf89
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by jf89 »

Bob B wrote:As a former firefighter I implore you not to just live with it. I have fought many devastating chimney fires.

Since you are interested only in "weekend ambiance', have you considered installing a gas insert if you have natural gas or propane available? It would be considerably less expensive than Option 1 and somewhat less expensive than Option 2 (depending on need/difficulty to run gas line and height of chimney for liner.) We love our insert for the convenience and looks (and heat.)
I very much appreciate this advice. Thank you!

I would love a gas line in the house, but that is apparently an old battle in our neighborhood civic association that isn't being resolved any time soon (the gas company will only run the line if the homeowners pay for the new line and guarantee a certain number of homes will have it run to them, but once the neighborhood reached that threshold years ago and agreed to pay for the service, the civic association balked at the idea of someone digging up the street. I'm trying to be the good new neighbor by staying out of old business that's already been decided.).

After talking it over with my wife, we really just want a wood burning fireplace. Nothing that's designed to heat the entire home. It's looking like we'll end up going with the stainless steel liner to extend the life of the fireplace as it sits (we really, really like a nice, traditional, open wood-burning fireplace).
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JerseyBoy
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by JerseyBoy »

For your further consideration --- I remembered seeing a clip on Ask This Old House not that long ago about chimney relining, and I finally found it. Apparently there are a few other competitive products like Thermocrete, too. A high quality, nonmetallic lining capable of withstanding high temperatures is much better than a stainless steel liner in a condensing (at times) flue gas environment. This is the reason that terra cotta tiles were used in the first place. Good Luck!

http://heatshieldchimney.com/
greenbldg2
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Re: Chimney Help, Please

Post by greenbldg2 »

I would get the mortar fixed in your situation and keep the same open fireplace for wood burning occasionally. Invest elsewhere. Install a SS liner if you are installing a fireplace insert.

The SS liners are $600-$800 for the kit (insulated to meet UL rating) so when the install costs $4k they are making a decent profit. I do agree that this is an average cost installed but you don't need this. This would be an upsell.
https://www.rockfordchimneysupply.com/r ... m-kits.php

Just fix what needs fixing. Annual cleaning and review of the chimney is sufficient.
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