Good day all!
This is my first post on here and I'm excited to start interacting with all of you!
So, here's my story, followed by one or two questions:
The house my wife and I bought about 5 years ago had a gas insert installed in the living room connected to the chimney that runs up through the middle of the house. About 4 years ago, the county cut down two very large trees on my property and left us with the wood. Yay! I've split most of it and it's piled all over my property and I've been using it for awesome campfires in our big fire pit out back. I've been wanting to get the gas insert out and put a wood burner in there.
I contacted the previous home owner and he informed me that there used to be a wood burning insert installed and that in the late 80's, he had it removed and that's when the gas unit showed up.
About a month ago I got the ball rolling. Called the insurance company informing them of my intentions ($50 extra a year), had the gas line to the insert disconnected, removed the gas insert and had an WETT certified home inspector come to the house to inform me of my next steps based on what he saw....
Oh, first what I saw: After removing the gas insert I was able to see the liner within a liner heading up the chimney. The bigger one was dirty and was obviously the one that was used so long ago for the wood burner, the smaller one within was connected to the gas unit. So, this is where I am right now. He told me that I'll need the Stainless liner through the existing chimney and that I'll have to have the inside of the firebox relined. I've attached photos of the firebox as you can see there has been some work to customize the shape to accommodate the gas unit that was in there, but you can definitely see evidence of some of the original brick in certain spots.
The Wood insert that I'll be putting in is smaller than the gas one I took out, so there would be room to reline the firebox with something, but my first question is if a relining is necessary given the history of there being a wood burning insert in use previously. OR would it be best for me to chip away all of the cement material to reveal all that's behind it? AND if I indeed should reline the firebox, what material would be best? The inspector mentioned metal, he mentioned firebrick. I want this to be a safe install, but don't want to over build (or overspend) if it's not necessary.
Kind thanks in advance!
Paul McDonald
This is my first post on here and I'm excited to start interacting with all of you!
So, here's my story, followed by one or two questions:
The house my wife and I bought about 5 years ago had a gas insert installed in the living room connected to the chimney that runs up through the middle of the house. About 4 years ago, the county cut down two very large trees on my property and left us with the wood. Yay! I've split most of it and it's piled all over my property and I've been using it for awesome campfires in our big fire pit out back. I've been wanting to get the gas insert out and put a wood burner in there.
I contacted the previous home owner and he informed me that there used to be a wood burning insert installed and that in the late 80's, he had it removed and that's when the gas unit showed up.
About a month ago I got the ball rolling. Called the insurance company informing them of my intentions ($50 extra a year), had the gas line to the insert disconnected, removed the gas insert and had an WETT certified home inspector come to the house to inform me of my next steps based on what he saw....
Oh, first what I saw: After removing the gas insert I was able to see the liner within a liner heading up the chimney. The bigger one was dirty and was obviously the one that was used so long ago for the wood burner, the smaller one within was connected to the gas unit. So, this is where I am right now. He told me that I'll need the Stainless liner through the existing chimney and that I'll have to have the inside of the firebox relined. I've attached photos of the firebox as you can see there has been some work to customize the shape to accommodate the gas unit that was in there, but you can definitely see evidence of some of the original brick in certain spots.
The Wood insert that I'll be putting in is smaller than the gas one I took out, so there would be room to reline the firebox with something, but my first question is if a relining is necessary given the history of there being a wood burning insert in use previously. OR would it be best for me to chip away all of the cement material to reveal all that's behind it? AND if I indeed should reline the firebox, what material would be best? The inspector mentioned metal, he mentioned firebrick. I want this to be a safe install, but don't want to over build (or overspend) if it's not necessary.
Kind thanks in advance!
Paul McDonald
