Chimney Construction Questions

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zabman

New Member
Dec 10, 2008
8
NW Ohio
im a carpenter and have acquired a free wood stove. it was one of those "sure we can haul that old thing out of here" deals haha. its a 1983 blaze king (8" flue) with the firebricks and everything in it and looks in good condition. and am in the process of hooking it up in my basement. we have priced up the stainless flues and have decided its cheaper to dig and put a footer and lay up a masonry chimney instead as recommended by our local stove dealer who caries both stainless and masonry supplies.

my dad and i were going to start laying block over the weekend till he hurt his back real bad and i dont know what im doing. never done it before. hes on some serious pain meds so i dont trust his advice at this moment haha. i have the materials that my dad had ordered already on site. its just the matter of putting together this jigsaw puzzle. the only thing is, its a big jigsaw puzzle that if you put it together wrong, could result in very bad bad things. now the things im confident about, clearances. its up against a brick wall to start with but im still keeping the 12" clearance specified on the tag. im also keeping the 18" min clearance from the ceiling to the black iron flue. no problem there either. my question is the transition going outside, threw the basement wall. i got the hole already punched threw the brick AND cinder block so thats not a problem. i got the footer poured for the chimney also. no problem there either. i also know what im doing going up with the chimney.

my problem is the transition of black iron to the round clay flue-liner to the rectangular chimney flue. does the black iron go all the way threw the wall then into the round clay then into the chimney or does the clay flue go flush with the inside of the wall with the black iron sliding into it? also how do you seal the black iron? normally with normal air ducts of similar snap seam design, we would use aluminized tape but i dont think that would hold up well to the heat. also, due to space regulations, and lack of desire to punch another hole threw brick and cinder block below the flue, we have decided to put the clean out, outside below ground (with access obviously). is the location critical for the access panel and does it have to be air tight?

any adivce would be appreciated. thanks in advance.
 
you should really use round flue not rectangle............ever see a hawk doing rectangles in the sky? Class "A" stainless is much more but is a far better chimney than cinder block. As a carpenter think of it as a hammer vs an air nailer, hammers had thier time and place but times have changed and there is something better now. You will have condensation issues. Anyway You should run the thimble from 1" in front of your brick wall to 1" into the vertical transition of the chimney.
 
I am rebuilding the top 8 feet of a brick chimney, I have a little experience with masonary work. I'd never do a chimney as a first project. Far to easy to mess up. And take it from me, I am a pretty out there do it yourselfer, it will take a LOT longer then you think. I wish I would have taken my chimney down to the ground and started over with class a metal.

I can't answer your chimney question, but you need research chimney thimbles
 
zabman said:
im a carpenter and have acquired a free wood stove. it was one of those "sure we can haul that old thing out of here" deals haha. its a 1983 blaze king (8" flue) with the firebricks and everything in it and looks in good condition. and am in the process of hooking it up in my basement. we have priced up the stainless flues and have decided its cheaper to dig and put a footer and lay up a masonry chimney instead as recommended by our local stove dealer who caries both stainless and masonry supplies.

my dad and i were going to start laying block over the weekend till he hurt his back real bad and i dont know what im doing. never done it before. hes on some serious pain meds so i dont trust his advice at this moment haha. i have the materials that my dad had ordered already on site. its just the matter of putting together this jigsaw puzzle. the only thing is, its a big jigsaw puzzle that if you put it together wrong, could result in very bad bad things. now the things im confident about, clearances. its up against a brick wall to start with but im still keeping the 12" clearance specified on the tag. im also keeping the 18" min clearance from the ceiling to the black iron flue. no problem there either. my question is the transition going outside, threw the basement wall. i got the hole already punched threw the brick AND cinder block so thats not a problem. i got the footer poured for the chimney also. no problem there either. i also know what im doing going up with the chimney.

my problem is the transition of black iron to the round clay flue-liner to the rectangular chimney flue. does the black iron go all the way threw the wall then into the round clay then into the chimney or does the clay flue go flush with the inside of the wall with the black iron sliding into it? also how do you seal the black iron? normally with normal air ducts of similar snap seam design, we would use aluminized tape but i dont think that would hold up well to the heat. also, due to space regulations, and lack of desire to punch another hole threw brick and cinder block below the flue, we have decided to put the clean out, outside below ground (with access obviously). is the location critical for the access panel and does it have to be air tight?

any adivce would be appreciated. thanks in advance.

Ok, wow. First I'm not a mason, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express recently.

To connect the stove pipe (what I think you are calling the black iron) to the chimney you will need to install a thimble. You can purchase a manufactured one or use a piece of the clay flue liner and lay it in horizontally from where the stove connects to the inside of the flue. Remember to make it perfectly flush.

You can seal the joints in the stove pipe with a bead of stove gasket cement or refactory cement. Remembre to use 3 screws in each stove pipe joint for code. Also remember the mortar between the clay flue tiles has to be refactory cement - not the regular mortar.

Yes the clean out door has to be air tight. Don't scrimp and buy one of the cheapy sheet metal ones. Get a good one.

Anyone else jump in and correct or confirm this?
 
ok thanks guys. i recently got a different thimble. forgot to take into account the thickness of the brick. i do have flue goo i think its called for the clay flue tiles. i did get a good purpos built clean out. hopefully i will get this figured out this weekend. plan in getting the bottom end built before the ground freezes. im sure i will probably have more questions when the time comes.
 
Ghettontheball said:
this is hard to understand

ya know, when Pook sez something is hard to understand, that's really sayin' something. ... but I agree.

To the OP: have you checked your local building codes? Does the masonry need to be reinforced?

Peace,
- Sequoia
 
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