Basement Installation

[Jibba]

This may not be the best place for this question, but figured I'd give it a shot. I just moved into an "unfinished" cape (meaning the 2nd floor is unfinished for now) with 2br and 2ba on the first floor. The finished first floor comes in at about 1850 sq ft, of which around 350 sq ft is 3-season/den space. Primary heat source is oil, but looking to supplement that with wood. There's an old, small stove in a fireplace on the first floor that'll help for this winter, but looking to go bigger in the spring to be ready for next year.

I have an old (but very lightly used) Alpiner stove that I'm thinking of throwing into the basement and attaching a plenum and blower with a couple of ducts to registers that I'd cut in. The problem is that my existing chimney is already 'full' with the fireplace upstairs venting into it and then the furnace venting as well (2 flues). So my thought was to have a dedicated brick chimney installed in the spring/summer. One concern I'm having is that, based on the (lack of ) space I'd have above grade, I'd have to dig down 4' or so, pour a foundation for it and cut a hole in the foundation to vent the stove into the chimney.

Has anyone had experience with an installation like this? Is it worth my money/effort to pursue it? I'm always concerned with poking holes in the fort!

 

[brant2000]

I added an external brick chimney to my home a few years ago. Like mentioned, I had to dig down to the existing footer and pour a new pad alongside it for the chimney footer. If you were planning to do this for an inside chimney, you'd definitely have more difficulty.

I had considered going with a pre-fab insulated metal chimney instead of the brick, but figured until I was all said and done with a stone veneer, I'd have more in the install and it probably wouldn't last nearly as long as a brick chimney. Obviously, if you do the pre-fab metal you can avoid the expense and effor of installing a footer.

 

[Jibba]

Thanks for the reply. It'll be external. Any sense of where you netted out cost-wise, if you don't mind me asking? Any issues with water coming in around the hole? This will probably be about a 20' chimney, including what's below grade, for what it's worth.

 

[brant2000]

Can't recall exactly, but off the top of my head I recall having about $3500 or so in the install. The chimney is about 25-28' tall, with just a single 8"x8" clay liner. I dug and poured the footer, I believe the brick and materials cost around $1k, and the mason charged me somewhere around $2,000.

 

[Jibba]

Thanks. I had a mason estimate $5,500, but that was with a stainless pipe inside.

 

[stee6043]

I built my chimney with SS pipe and simply built a chase around it to match the house (vinyl siding, not stone). Doing the work myself kept the cost quite low. The SS pipe was the most expensive part.

 

[Jibba]

I built my chimney with SS pipe and simply built a chase around it to match the house (vinyl siding, not stone). Doing the work myself kept the cost quite low. The SS pipe was the most expensive part.

Thanks for the input!