Need Advice/Input on Chimney Liner

Hello All.

I seek your wisdom/experience on chimney liners.

In preparation for getting the new Varm installed, I had a chimney sweep come out and take a look at both of my chimneys. (One is for oil boiler, the other is where I plan to put the new wood boiler). What he has told me is that both need new cleanout doors (not surprising), but that both need to have new liners installed (VERY surprising to me). I unfortunately wasnt there, but my wife was, and was able to see the bits and pieces of terra cotta that he was pulling out of the bottom. I dont necessarily have any reason to doubt that the liners are needed, other than I dont want to have to pay more $ for them.

Thats where I want some advice. The cost I am getting is that each new cleanout door will cost $75, along with $95 for the labor to do it. For the liner, he is wanting $111/foot, plus tax. The issue I have here is that one chimney is 33 feet, the other is 25 or so. So now Im up to at least $6500 that I really didnt plan on spending this season.

I know its important to have a good flue, but can anyone let me know their experience with putting in a new liner, and if these costs are in line?

In my digging around, I found this site: http://www.chimneylinerinc.com/ (I hope its OK to post this here, if not, sorry mods, and it can be removed). The cost to get two full kits with insulation and all of the other goodies was about 2k. So it seems like paying 4500 or so for labor is pretty darn steep. My only concern is that I dont know how the cleanouts would work with these liner kits.

Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks for the link.

I have been reading along with many of the other posts here on the forum, trying to figure out what the best approach is going to be. I like the guy that came, but I feel like those prices are really out of line, or like I could get a brand new chimney put up for that kind of money....

Thanks all.

The price seems very high to me as well, given that I have found liner kits on the web for ~$1000 that should cover either situation. Im all for paying someone fairly for their work, but I feel like I could get two new masonry chimneys built for that price.

My plan is to make some other calls to see what prices I can get. If anyone here knows a good mason/sweep in the Upstate NY area (about an hour north of Albany, close to Southern VT), I would welcome the info.

I did call him back, and I want to talk about his quote, and have him break it down between material and labor. No call back yet, so Ill try again tomorrow.

Called a mason today, and he doesnt do liners, but could put me up a new chimney if I wanted one. He did give me some good leads, so the hunt is on tomorrow for another liner supplier/installer just to comparison shop.

Both chimneys are straight shots, so it shouldnt be too bad to feed a liner in, but Im worried about the sizing of the one for the oil boiler (manual says it needs 8x8x15' minimum, and has a 7" flue collar on it) and It looks like its an 8x8 tile chimney. I need to go measure to be sure. Also I dont know how I would handle the transition at the bottom where the cleanout doors are, and how that all works.

The plot thickens.

I went to see another fireplace/stove dealer who is local, and they quoted me ~$3000 for both chimneys. This is sight unseen, and assumed the sizes, but that seems much more reasonable to me cost wise.