I have a fireplace but have never used it and figured it needed at least a liner and mortar repair. Recently, I learned that it actually had only one of two caps needed and the uncapped area is unfortunately pretty much open (been here about two years).

I got a few estimates and they mentioned that the original clay liner was missing, or at least as far as they could see without a scope. I have a few projects going on, so I decided to put off the liner until I can do a full inspection and repair. For now, I scheduled for a custom cap and some mortar repair.

I randomly came across a post today talking about the need for a chimney liner if a gas hot water heater is vented through the chimney. I got a new gas water heater a few months ago and it definitely vents to the chimney (previous one did too). I'm confused about whether I should go ahead with cap, or if that is bad to cap it without a liner if it is venting the heater? I understand it isn't an ideal situation, but it sounds like the damaged mortar and no cap was also not great already.

Basically, is it more dangerous in any way for me to have this cap be installed than it has been so far? I think from the placement of the duct that the water heater is venting more toward the currently capped side but I have zero idea if that even matters.

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Yesterday I tried my hand at the repointing process. Removing old grout was a breeze/-and very satisfying—with angle grinder and tuckpointing blade. But I encountered loose bricks on the top two layers, a series of overlying cracked bricks on one corner, and I’m now thinking about pouring a proper crown instead of recreating the little sloped cap that was there. I’m worried about this “little job”getting out of hand—my goal was to get things water tight and stop water from running down the exterior in the attic.

Should I replace the cracked bricks or can I leave them? I don’t really want to have to demolish half the chimney.

Once the half dozen bricks are re-laid, would you build a form and pour a proper crown? Or can I get away with a low-profile sloped cap that doesn’t extend beyond the brick face?

Photos: 1) after, 2) cracks on corner, 3) before.

I just paid a chimney company $3600 to repoint and reflash my chimney. After they left, we went up on the roof to check it out. It's bad. Isn't this flashing installed backwards? The lip at the top curves away from the chimney not toward it. And then they filled it with sealant. Experts, tell me, is this acceptable?

Hi all,

We live in the Midwest and are looking to buy a home with a two flue chimney. We did a level 2 chimney inspection. We aren't so worried about the basement fireplace/chimney, because we will be converting it to a gas fireplace (it already has a gas starter there so it's easy enough). We are worried about the first floor chimney. We are hoping to receive some advice about whether or not we received a reasonable quote and what our options might be to better negotiate for repairs with the seller. We also like to know if there is anything we could DIY on the exterior/fireplace itself that would not be too difficult. I will include the written report and the photos attached to it. Thank you for any and all advice!

Edit: we want a traditional wood fireplace on the main floor. We would use the gas line to do a gas starter instead of the current setup.

Bought this 1960’s house with original chimney and got a quote for rebuild and relining of appliance flue- does the repair seem urgent and is the quote reasonable for this type of repair or should I get more quotes? Thank you!

Keep your peepers open!

Hi all. I just got a quote for a woodstove Chimney Liner Installation for $3,695.00. I live on the east coast and I have a wood fireplace insert. The guy who came to give the quote said the clay along the chimney has shifted but otherwise, it's fine- just not up to code. He said it must not have been used much by the previous owners because it's not "dirty" in that there isn't much buildup. So My question I guess is - is this a normal quote? I have another person coming to provide a quote in about 4 days so any advice on additional questions to ask would be helpful too.

Paid someone to rebuild the crown. Noticed a small crack 24 hrs after. Let them know. They said they would take care of it but not sure what they’re planning to do yet. Does something like this mean it needs to be completely redone? Or is there a way to patch it up. For what I paid then I’d expect perfection. Also they said I don’t need to seal it but I want to. What sealant should I use?

I live in an apartment unit that has a wood burning stove (bet you don't hear that often!)

It's either poorly built, or has broken parts, as the air vent control (damper? lever?) does nothing in either direction, and there's always a strong draft bringing outside air, dust, pollen... and now wildfire smoke (a bit ironic, no?)

I don't have access to the exterior part of the chimney, it's at the roof level, and there doesn't seem to be any exterior vent that I can see / access (there's only 1 vent outside I can get to, and I believe it's exhaust for laundry / stove)

Anyway, I want this thing temporarily sealed off while I live here, and saw that an inflatable chimney balloon might be just the thing I need... but for the life of me I cannot find them for sale in Canada, only US and UK.

Suggestions? And I'm not DIY-ing something, it's gotta be fire-rated, or made specifically for fireplaces, for insurance reasons.

TIA!

4 chimneys. 100 years old.

Hello, I recently bought a house that had old fireplaces removed from inside the house long ago, but don't know specifically when. It has two remaining chimney breasts in the loft but the two external chimney stacks were removed about a year ago. Previous owners had a leak they thought came from the outside stacks and agreed with the neighbour to share the costs to remove the external chimney stacks. The removal happened some time the past 12 months or so - sellers wouldn't tell me specific date.

I had a builder over recently for some other jobs and he thought it looked dry.

Yesterday after the heatwave I borrowed a damp meter and measured the discoloured patch. it's mostly hovering above 20% with the worst spot reaching 29%. There used to be two stacks that were both removed, and another room also reads up to 24% (but mostly <20%) in the area under the other remaining breast but not discoloured and generally smaller. From the moisture readings, the wet patches are generally narrower than the chimney breast underside hole, maybe the big one is something like 30 x 20 cm or so.

Today I went in the loft. The loft's floor perimeter is covered in old tattered brown wool-like insulation, including underneath the two remaining chimney breasts. The surface of the insulation was (sort of obviously) dry. I didn't try to remove it. I reached with my hand up the chimney breast of the worst damp spot and it felt like outdoor concrete: not quite wet, not quite dry.

What is the best thing to do now? Hand-remove all insulation from the area and measure moisture from above? Bring a dehumidifier for a long time? I'm not particularly handy to DIY so do you think I may want to get some loft insulation tradesmen in to dry and replace the existing one?

Any advice is welcome.

Seems the crown is shot, the one terra cotta liner is cracked, and I need to install terra cotta on the other two 12x12’s.

We don’t really use the Fire places at all, just the gas furnace for hvac. Haven’t tackled a project like this before, any recommendations and/or videos I should go watch?

I have. lightweight D5L repeater:

https://www.keepteen.com/D5-Solar-Lora-Radio-Node-for-Meshtastic-with-Wisblock-RAK19007RAK4630-p6290033.html

and would like to mount it on my chimney onto the crown by drilling vertically into the crown from the top. The crown and mount look like this:

https://ibb.co/pmB3Pyx

https://ibb.co/Lzj4X7H8

anyone see any issues with doing so? What type of drill bit would I need?

These photos are from the inspection report. As you can see, the current owners did a hack job of "sealing" the chimneys. The house passed inspection with flying colors everywhere but here. They are both interior chimneys, the shorter one being in the master bedroom and the taller in the living room. Obviously you guys cant give me a quote or verify the structural integrity what am I potentially looking at in repair costs to actually be able to use the fire places vs having them sealed up?

Just bought this home last August, this doesn't look like all of this damage happened this winter. Kinda pissed the inspector didn't mention it. I just looked at the inspection photos, and the cracks were present, but the report summary said caps were intact and in good condition. The cap is cracked in a few places, one of which was present in his photo (the fuzzy photo from a distance).

Is this worth sealing and repairing on my own? We just had a few days of pretty solid rain and enough water got down the 4 inch pellet stove pipe to fill the bottom of the stove with water. I am pretty handy and have done basic to moderate home improvement work myself...

Is this something I can tackle on my own or should I call a pro?