like many of you i took advantage of the nice weather last week to do a cleaning. while up on the roof i made a very unpleasant discovery. the chimney flue pipe (8"x8" clay) was damaged. i cleaned it in October and everything seemed fine, my guess is that it was damaged during hurricane sandy. living on the jersey shore, i thought the house had made it unscathed and i was lucky... apparently not. several of the clay blocks are cracked above where the chimney is thimbled in and the mortar between the top brick and the rest is separated. it appears structurally compromised... so what do i do?
the chimney system runs through the middle of house, its actually like a 8'x4' concrete block box that runs up the middle of the house with 3 separate flues. 1 for the boiler, 1 for the main stove (which is damaged) and 1 6"x6" that has never been used, it goes to the basement for a secondary stove. there currently isn't a secondary stove, but there is a 6" thimble and stove pipe, a brick pad and rock back drop. really easy install.
i think my options are to put a liner in the damaged chimney, which means probably knocking the clay bricks out or abandoning the main stove and hooking up a new stove in the basement till i have the money to fix the main. problem is, the basement is finished, and the drop ceiling is very well insulated. i don't know how well the heat would make it to the rest of the house, anyone have any experience with this? oh, i have central heating and air, so all my ducts are hooked up (no openings between levels). any ideas?
the chimney system runs through the middle of house, its actually like a 8'x4' concrete block box that runs up the middle of the house with 3 separate flues. 1 for the boiler, 1 for the main stove (which is damaged) and 1 6"x6" that has never been used, it goes to the basement for a secondary stove. there currently isn't a secondary stove, but there is a 6" thimble and stove pipe, a brick pad and rock back drop. really easy install.
i think my options are to put a liner in the damaged chimney, which means probably knocking the clay bricks out or abandoning the main stove and hooking up a new stove in the basement till i have the money to fix the main. problem is, the basement is finished, and the drop ceiling is very well insulated. i don't know how well the heat would make it to the rest of the house, anyone have any experience with this? oh, i have central heating and air, so all my ducts are hooked up (no openings between levels). any ideas?
