Finally pulled the trigger today and got the last Magnolia my local TSC had. I have had my eye on this for a few weeks and thanks to wkpoor's reviews, I had to have it. Plans were to remove legs and put a smaller set on them to fit into my masonary fireplace area. After buying the stove and getting it on the floor in the living room, I started looking closer. Due to the layout of the living room, I decided I would rather have it sitting in the corner about 5' from fireplace and run the stovepipe into the flue above the fireplace area. It would be more of a "viewing pleasure" in the corner. I then went outside and took a closer look at the chimney. It is approximately 16' tall and is made with double row brick with a clay liner in the top 8' or so. As I looked at it, I noticed cracks in the mortar joints between the brick in several areas. It is about 30 yrs old and I am not too excited with it's structural integrity now. I also noticed that in the area where the thimble would go thru, there is about a 2" gap between the siding and the edge of the brick.
Because of this and the fact we would enjoy it better in the corner where we could see it, I then considered alternatives. The easiest resoluton was to install a direct vent triple wall Dura-Vent chimney going thru the ceiling about 4' from the exterior wall. I have never seen one up close but had a good idea of how it worked. Because of this, I found an installation manual online about it and started reading. In a sense, there is a little more to it than I thought, but not beyond my ability. As I started looking further into it, I didn't think $200 for the ceiling kit would be too bad, until I realized the pipe wasn't included. I found that it would cost me around $400 for the ceiling kit, black pipe from stove, and 2 sections of triple wall for attic/roof. In all reality, I probably need 3 pieces of the pipe, so that would bring it up another $100.
After thinking about it, $400-500 is more than I really want to put into 30 pounds of steel and fiberglass. Are there any other alternatives to this piping that someone could suggest? I am not afraid to fabricate this myself, as long as it is safe and cheaper. Thanks.
Because of this and the fact we would enjoy it better in the corner where we could see it, I then considered alternatives. The easiest resoluton was to install a direct vent triple wall Dura-Vent chimney going thru the ceiling about 4' from the exterior wall. I have never seen one up close but had a good idea of how it worked. Because of this, I found an installation manual online about it and started reading. In a sense, there is a little more to it than I thought, but not beyond my ability. As I started looking further into it, I didn't think $200 for the ceiling kit would be too bad, until I realized the pipe wasn't included. I found that it would cost me around $400 for the ceiling kit, black pipe from stove, and 2 sections of triple wall for attic/roof. In all reality, I probably need 3 pieces of the pipe, so that would bring it up another $100.
After thinking about it, $400-500 is more than I really want to put into 30 pounds of steel and fiberglass. Are there any other alternatives to this piping that someone could suggest? I am not afraid to fabricate this myself, as long as it is safe and cheaper. Thanks.
