New FireFlex preinsulated liner in place! Sharing the experience...

[Smoked]

So, I have done a 22 foot liner with insulation and mesh about 7 years ago. That was a lot of work on the ground but it went in ok. This install was 30 feet of preinsulated liner with an added foot of non-in on the nose . The flue had plenty of extra clearance but the common misalignment of the tiles made for extra effort for sure! I could see one that was at least an inch offset about 8 feet down...think the mason must have been drunk when they did this thing.

Anyway, I had a friend on the roof with me and one in the basement on the rope. The top of the chimney is only about 2 feet off the peak of the roof so we had manageable angles to work with. I would not recommend trying a 30 ft liner with fewer than 3 people, it was a lot to deal with up on top. Several times it hung up on said ledges of the tiles so we had to lift the whole thing up and drop it to get it going again. Once it was 2/3 in, then we could twist from the top and it rotated off the ledges and dropped in. There was a 30 degree bend getting into the smoke chamber but that was less of a problem than the misaligned tiles.

I had everything set up on the ground before the help was called. The preinsulated stuff might have been a little tougher to uncoil than light liner but it was way easier than insulating 22 feet of liner...gluing, taping, and stretching the mesh. I cant imaging dealing with 30 feet of that mesh... All said and done, we were only on the roof for about 20 minutes and half of that was caulking the top plate.

31 feet insulated top to tee. Now time for the block-off plate. Is it easier to screw into what is left of the damper frame or into the masonry. I have killed 3 masonry bits already this weekend...

 

[begreen]

Sounds like it's going smoothly. If the chimney was well cleaned before the liner install you are on the home stretch.

 

[bholler]

It depends some times the masonry is easier some times the damper frame is.

 

[bholler]

And like bg said i hope it was cleaned really well first. I many times spend more time getting the chimney really clean than i do installing the liner. Other times it takes many hours just to get the liner slid or pulled in.

 

[Smoked]

And like bg said i hope it was cleaned really well first. I many times spend more time getting the chimney really clean than i do installing the liner. Other times it takes many hours just to get the liner slid or pulled in.

I have only had 2 fires in that fireplace in 7 years or so. The clay was very clean and the brick in the smoke chamber was clean. There was a gap in between the very front brick veneer and the firebox and that is where I had to clean the most creosote off. Really strange where that stuff decides to call home.