chimney demolition question

[kingstove]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I have bought a house with an internal chimney. The chimney is 13.5' tall, double bricked from the floor to approximately 7' (into the attic) then single brick the rest of the way up. Its clay lined. The single brickand tile portion thru the roof has linear cracks on two sides. My plans are to take the single brick portion down to double brick, use duraliner and transition into class A to replace the single brick. Here's the problem, the mason mortared the bricks to the tile, so there's no airspace. I'm assuming this because the o.d. clay dimension is 8" and the o.d chimney dimension is 16". So just how big of a job is this going to be removing the brick from around the clay?

 

[Highbeam]

Just rip the whole thing out. I did and have no regrets.

 

[fraxinus]

Another alternative is to have the chimney lined with one of the poured in place liners. SupaFlu is one type, there are others. It has been a long time since I had this done, so I don't know what the current cost would be. Advantages would include no demolition, self insulating, reinforces the entire chimney.

 

[kingstove]

Thanks for the replies! Fraxinus, around here if you mention wood burning appliances, hardware store owners immediately assume you're just there to talk about the "good ole days" when folks burned wood to survive...needless to say things like SupaFlu are nonexistent

 

[begreen]

Just rip the whole thing out. I did and have no regrets.

Likewise, took the fireplace out with it too.

 

[bholler]

The liners being mortared in are probably why it cracked also. But I don't understand the problem you are taking the brick down right as well as the clay so just tear it down.

 

[smokedragon]

Either tear it down and replace with class A, or put a liner in it (if it is straight, a 6" insulated liner may fit).

Definitely wouldn't stick with it if there is cracking.

 

[Papa-Yankee-Romeo-Oscar]

I tore my brick chimney down to about two feet above the attic floor and then lined it with 6" class A ran from the stove connection on up through the roof but depending on the inner diameter of yours it may not be an option. It's pretty easy to tear them down though, just start hammering at the joints with an air chisel. Work your way from the top down to were you want to be.

 

[kingstove]

Hoping to finish it tomorrow, I've gotten it down below the roof line using a 3lb shop hammer and cold chisel. Its really not as bad as I expected, the rain and ice over the years have done a lot of the dirty work for me by making lots of hairline cracks, the liner being mortared to the brick is actually to my advantage. Every couple layers of brick I take down I'm able to break the liner into manageable pieces which prevents me from having to worry about huge chunks falling down into the smoke box.

 

[kingstove]

I'm also finding about 1/2" of creosote between the liner sections at every joint, the mortar in the attic section is soaked with water and creosote. The previous owner almost had me convinced it would be fine to just reattach the wood stove and fire it up this winter ... I'm sure glad I spent hours on end reading post after post about relining masonry chimneys. Hopefully by this coming winter that new Woodstock Keystone will have a brand new exaust system and a new hearth to rest its feet on!!

 

[BrotherBart]

Sounds like it is going better than this.

 

[bholler]

If it is that bad I strongly recommend having a sweep look at it. If creosote was seeped in that badly it might need the liners removed in order to safely line it. I don't know without seeing it but your description is a little concerning.

 

[kingstove]

Hahaha, yes I called and cancelled the dynamite specialist about 1 hour into the project this afternoon!

 

[bholler]

Wow that did one hell of a job on that roof

 

[Ashful]

Likewise, took the fireplace out with it too.

 

[kingstove]

I'll do my best to post some pictures of it tomorrow afternoon, it looks to me like the double brick portion I'm going down to is very clean. I'm going with Bholler on this one, had there been an airspace between liner and brick the liner would possibly be in better condition.

 

[bholler]

Ok I would just check it out closely you really need to be able to get it really clean before you line it and if creosote has soaked in there is no way to do that.

 

[kingstove]

Here's the topsection I managed to salvage...

 

[bholler]

that doesn't look that bad really not much dirt outside the liner but still inspect the rest very carefully the best thing would to have it scanned with a camera.

 

[kingstove]

The 6" duraliner fits nicely inside a 7x7" clay liner too

 

[1ruralmailman]

holy chit on that one trough the roof.reminds me of the one i pulled down with my tractor,i bent a 2 inch bar i anchored off to at a 45 degree angle and drove a channel in the ground around 6 inches.was glad to have it down ,under somewhat control rather than on its own.