On Apr 13, 9:45*pm, "TomR" wrote:
"Twayne" wrote in message

...



My neighbor incstall/repairs chimney problems. . . . ,
It would be a LOT cheaper & faster to knock the old one down and replace
it with a modern shiny steel double-walled system of pipes.

Another chimney company came out today. *This one started out thinking they
could wrap the chimney with wire mesh and apply cement/stucco to the
exterior. *But, after checking it out more, they realized that would not be
possible. *I watched them go up on the roof and inspect the chimney. *The
stucco just comes off by touching it and the bricks are badly deteriorated
throughout the whole chimney. *Plus, with barely any effort, pressing on the
chimney causes it to rock because it is so loose. *So, the need for a
tear-down and a new chimney was confirmed by yet another company.

What was interesting is that they recommended tearing this one down to the
roof line and then replacing it with two "triple wall stainless steel
'b-vent' chimneys" -- in other words shiny new metal chimneys. *They said it
is much easier to install and they can do the whole thing in one day.

That is what someone on this thread suggested previously. I also
suggested that approach with a
framed/sided chase around it. The latter would certainly
look better and I'd wonder if they can go high enough
to meet code without a chase. You are going to
make sure they get any necessary permits right?

But it looks right now like rebuilding the chimney from
the roof up is the least expensive. That;s because
they are only rebuilding part of it, where with the other
approach they have to run the new vent pipe all
the way to the boiler.

I'd also make sure that someone actually does an
inspection on the full chimney, running a camera
down there before doing any work. You don't want
to put a new top half on a chimney where the bottom
half is shot too. For example, the mortar could be
shot between the flue sections in the bottom half.
You could solve that by putting a steel liner in the
rebuilt chimney, but that obviously adds to the cost
and should be factored in if needed.





*The
bad news was that I was expecting that to be cheaper, but their price for
doing this ($4,800) was more than it would cost for me to have a new brick
chimney built.