On Jan 28, 1:01�pm, wrote:
On Jan 28, 8:11 am, " wrote:

well the easy solution is get furnace and hot water tanks off chimney
by whatever means necessary and leave fireplace as non working for
next owner to do whatever they want

a new more efficent furnace adds real resale value to a home

Not as much as a working fireplace. �Everybody expects a home to have
a working furnace, and how efficient it is is sort of an abstraction
that most buyers aren't going to grasp when they're walking around the
house looking at all of its features. �You can tell them "oh, and our
furnace is really efficient" but it just doesn't have any sort of
immediate "wow" factor.

A working fireplace does, two working fireplaces have even more.
Conversely, a non-working fireplace and a crumbling chimney are really
huge downers for any buyer. �I guarantee any realtor will tell you the
first question they get when people see a fireplace in a house is
"does that work?" �Or if it's obviously plugged up, they look at it
and say "oh, too bad, the fireplace is plugged up." �And the last
thing you want a potential buyer saying when they see your house is
"too bad" about anything. �A non-working fireplace is just wasted
space, not to mention a constant reminder of what could have been, and
potentially a constant source of worry if the chimney's left in bad
shape.

You may as well fix the thing properly if it can be done within any
amount of reason, figuring that increased equity into the cost. �Maybe
the OP wants to talk to some people who know his local area to see how
much a working fireplace really adds to a home's value; as cshenk
says, it does vary. �In my area, it is pretty much a requirement, not
so much because people use them for heating anymore but because about
80% of homes still have them, so you're competing against those homes
when you sell. �If it adds $30,000 to the value of the house and it
costs $30,000, then it's still worth it vs. spending $5,000 on a new
routing for the vent and getting maybe $2,000 back in value. �It's not
only about the initial outlay.

well that same 5 grand might go from a old inefficent 50% furnace to a
nice spiffy new 94% furnace cutting heating bills by nearly 50%

I agree the OP sould get 5 estimates for chimney repairs and go from
there.

with such a old home theres no lceramic liner, so concrete or
stainless liner will be necessary

but say heating currently costs 5 grand, and new furnace can cut that
by 50%, in round numbers save 2500 a year. now live in home 10 years,
save 25 grand