On Jan 26, 12:15 am, lanman wrote:
This house has a center peak of nearly 40'. I'm guessing a chimney
rebuild would cost around $50K - not including the cost of knocking
out internal walls which have ornate wood and plaster work which will
be impossibly expense to replace/restore.

I think taking the chimney out of service and venting to an outside
wall as suggested by another poster might be the best alternative.
What do you think?

Is the mortar in bad shape all the way down? Did you see it? I
wouldn't trust that chimney guy you talked to. Get a second opinion.
Chances are you do have mortar problems in a 100 year old house, but
not necessarily through the entire length of the chimney and not
necessarily bad enough that it couldn't just be better protected from
the elements (ie. a liner and cap) and stabilized.

I would only take that chimney out of service if you plan on never
selling the house. That's going to negatively affect its value.
People look at an old Victorian home with a big chimney in the middle
of it and they expect a working fireplace or two. Right now you've
just got the dampers plugged; don't make it worse.

I suppose it's possible you might need $50,000 or more of work, but
it's also possible you need $5,000 of work. If that's the case, then
you could spend $5,000 for $15,000 or more worth of equity, if you
really get that chimney back in working order.

Alternatively, you could end up spending $5,000 to take that chimney
out of service and vent your heat to a side wall and end up getting
nothing back from that expense. Because then what you've done is made
it more difficult for any new owners to get those fireplaces up and
running, and they're still left to do the work that you could have
done now. Or, maybe they didn't care about working fireplaces when
they bought the house, but then they sure aren't going to pay for them
when they buy from you.

The best thing you can do is get a second opinion from another chimney
guy. If the chimney is really beyond being practical to save, then
fine - take it out of service. But be absolutely sure about that
before you do anything rash like semi-permanently disabling one of
your home's most desirable features for potential buyers.

Jeff