Fireplace Inspection gone bad....need new fireplace

If you are in Madison check out Top Hat on Verona Rd. He carries many brands including the ones you mention, a great servicing staff and a great reputation. Ask for Roy and tell him Bert sent you.

Also if anyone condemns your installation, ask for the reasons on paper and also ask for pictures (most sweeps nowadays carry special cameras to take pics of the inside of the chimney.) That way he'll have to stand behind what he says.

Lots of ideas to look at and try. We didn't work with one as old as yours, but are very happy with the results. There are many people on here who have done a tear out and rebuild. We didn't intend to heat our whole house.. just not waste the bTu's of our evening fires.. lol. Heat pump hasn't been on much in the last couple years. It's really not as diffcult as you would think to replace with either a new fireplace, or even a freestanding stove.

(see the link in my sigline...)

I'd start with a second opinion

I was going to say the same thing as benchwrench. I had two local companies come in and tell me completely wrong things. They are both HVAC companies that do this as a sideline and claim hundreds of years of experience.

One guy told me that if I removed any of the bricks or flue the entire chimney would collapse on my head. That's when I found this site and had a mason come out.
When I told him about the chimney collapsing he laughed so hard he cried.

I'll share a story about my first install, again.

I have old chimneys. We're talking 1700s old. I wanted to install a stove in the large fireplace in the Summer Kitchen. I had a very well known company come in to look at the chimney. Two men came out and looked up and down my chimney inside and out. When they were done, the had a quote that was over five grand (I can't remember the exact number, but I've posted it before). They said the entire chimney needed to be redone. Open up the stone from the outside, reline the chimney, then re-stone the chimney before I could even think about installing a liner for a stove. So, I was looking at over five grand for the chimney work and then another two grand for the install.

I was depressed and a little annoyed as I did not see why the chimney needed so much work. Then I called two other well known sweeps. Both of which had no idea why the first company quotes such a price for something that, in their opinions, did not need to take place.

I ended up going with one of those two other sweeps after asking additional questions as to why they were so sure the chimney was in good shape. The install went fine and the chimney is still in good shape.

I'm not saying the chimney sweep that you had looking at your chimney was trying to rip you off. Your chimney may need all the work that he quoted you. But, I would sure as hell bring in at least two more sweeps before I made a decision.

My story is so much like BAR's, it's not worth repeating. Only difference is my quote was $9500, for a solution the liner manufacturer and two other sweeps all said was both unnecessary and not code. Two other sweeps both quoted $2400, and I did my own homework with the liner manufacturer to ensure what they quoted was both safe and code.

Joful said:

My story is so much like BAR's, it's not worth repeating. Only difference is my quote was $9500, for a solution the liner manufacturer and two other sweeps all said was both unnecessary and not code. Two other sweeps both quoted $2400, and I did my own homework with the liner manufacturer to ensure what they quoted was both safe and code.

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Our numbers were really close. I couldn't remember if it was five grand or ten. I mentioned it before, and you thought we might have used the same guy since the quote was nearly identical.

I bet I would remember the number if I ended up paying it.

I had a Zero Clearance metal unit fireplace that in 40 years attempted to burn the house down multiple times. The thimble through the wall going to the 1972 prefab metal chimney was a single wrap of asbestos paper. I had one guy come out and the quote was 6k+. I called my father and we had the fireplace and chimney on the trailer going to the scrap yard in 2 days (Cost: 2 cases of beer) Had another company come in (Matters of the Hearth in Findley lake NY) and he quoted me about 4k for the stove and stack. I did some research and found this price to be in line and other than the usual Old stove VS EPA stove issues, we have burnt less than 50 gallons of heating oil in the last year (DHW is oil).

Moral of the story: get another quote!

Besides Top Hat, check out Madison Fireside Hearth and Home on Watts Road. I shopped both and had a reasonably good purchase/install experience with
Fireside on two homes.

you most definately need a couple of other opinions before you proceed. These other guys' testimonies go to prove that point very well.

Welcome to the forums, Goater !

Sorry to hear of your tribulations, maybe some pics, so we can see what you're dealing with, would help.

Unless I missed something here, It looks good to go. It's a Zero clearance box right? So whats up with the header? If you can see any cracks between the fireplace front and the brick face, seal them up with some morter. As for the door, he's right. Although, your door apears to be ventilated at the top and bottom, thats the issue, can air get to the vents in the firebox? You should leave those doors open while burning anyway. Can air get to the loovers on the fireplace? Like I said, unless I missed something, it sounds like you have had some hokey jokey sweeps out that are looking for that next big sell.

I would not bother installing the outside air kit at time of install, particularly with an older home. It is not likely you will have a drafting problem, and even if you do, it's easily remedied down the road. When you get the unit installed, experiment with cracking a window versus burning with the house closed up tight, and you will quickly determine whether or not you want to proceed to that step. No sense in installing one until you prove you need it.

Install the oak, reason, if its drawing from the oak its not drawing from the house that you are trying to heat up. So why in H double hockysticks would you want to have to heat a bunch subartic air entering the house than just re-warming whats already there. Besides, that cold air sucked by the fire travels along the floor= cold feet. A nice hot fire can create a small tornado along the floor and that just isn't comfy. I have a big stove with Oak and I can still feel cold air draft coming from bedroom end of house it is not bad just know its there, actually its a bit of a good thing as that means warm air is getting back to the bedrooms.

I guess you guys don't live in big, old, drafty houses. In my case, the cold air is nearly infinitely available from a million other sources, why provide an inlet for more? If you're going to argue the draft of the stove is drawing more cold air into the house, you surely don't understand the difference between a mountain and a mole hill. The draft driven by the pressure differential between the windward and leeward wall of any substantial house is an order of magnitude beyond the capacity of your wood stove.

yep, your point is valid, begreen. It's just we all tend to come at these problems with our own assumptions. I think, "of course everyone lives in a drafty old house," and you think, "who the hell wouldn't have 6 inches of spray foam in their walls?"

BTW... it doesn't take a "drafty" house to provide many more times the make-up air requirement for the average wood stove. The average house does that quite adequately. I once found a good paper on the subject, but did not adequately bookmark it. Let me see if I can go find it now...