Chimney dilemma continued

[Rob_Red]

I made some prior posts about my 8x8 clay lined / cement ring chimney having a cracked liner. I have stopped burning and am at the point where I need to take action. The current state is my liner is cracked, by thimble is cracked, and the top of my chimney had some non professional brick work done that is also failing. To add to my hatred for this chimney its builds shiny creosote seemingly pretty easily (maybe due to cold flue?)

I have called out a few professionals and here are my options....

Option A- Remove the top of the chimney and rebuild it properly and install an **Non insulated liner** within the old clay liner. The chimney builder said the clay liner could act as the insulator. Is this correct?

I asked about an Option B - Same as above, but knock out the clay liner and install an insulated liner. The builder is going to look into this

Option C - Knock down the chimney, fix the side of the house and go with a new class A

To spice this up even further my current thimble isn't up to code, I don't know all of the details until we start breaking into the wall to see. But it appears it is not insulated from combustibles properly. So no matter what direction I go I need to cut into the (stone veneered) interior wall and install a proper thimble and then make it all look pretty again.

What would you guys do? It looks like all options will be expensive, but I'm in between a rock and a hard place because this is our heat. Most of all I want peace of mind that I have the safest possible setup

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[PA Mountain Man]

I would not do Option A
Option B, maybe if you're likin the looks of the existing chimney on the side of the house.
Option C, refer to Option B
Thimble fix needed, but may be less intrusive than you think.
Got pics?

 

[Rob_Red]

What’s wrong with option A? No insulation?

this is what the inside looks like

 

[bholler]

I made some prior posts about my 8x8 clay lined / cement ring chimney having a cracked liner. I have stopped burning and am at the point where I need to take action. The current state is my liner is cracked, by thimble is cracked, and the top of my chimney had some non professional brick work done that is also failing. To add to my hatred for this chimney its builds shiny creosote seemingly pretty easily (maybe due to cold flue?)

I have called out a few professionals and here are my options....

Option A- Remove the top of the chimney and rebuild it properly and install an **Non insulated liner** within the old clay liner. The chimney builder said the clay liner could act as the insulator. Is this correct?

I asked about an Option B - Same as above, but knock out the clay liner and install an insulated liner. The builder is going to look into this

Option C - Knock down the chimney, fix the side of the house and go with a new class A

To spice this up even further my current thimble isn't up to code, I don't know all of the details until we start breaking into the wall to see. But it appears it is not insulated from combustibles properly. So no matter what direction I go I need to cut into the (stone veneered) interior wall and install a proper thimble and then make it all look pretty again.

What would you guys do? It looks like all options will be expensive, but I'm in between a rock and a hard place because this is our heat. Most of all I want peace of mind that I have the safest possible setup

Thanks in advance for the advice.

I agree with the previous poster. Option a is a no. Clay liners are in no way an insulator your builder is clueless.

So it comes down to b or c. There is no safety or performance benifit to either so it comes down to cost and aesthetics. Removal repair and class a will cost more to have done without question. But it is pretty much all work that can be done by you if you are so inclined. Breaking out the clay while some have done it themselves is really something I would recommend having done by a pro

 

[Rob_Red]

I also forgot to mention this is an exterior chimney with a wall pass through. Not sure how much this changes things up.

 

[PA Mountain Man]

What’s wrong with option A? No insulation?

this is what the inside looks like

Multiple things wrong with Option A. Biggest I see is glazed creosote. Difficult to remove and not safe. I've seen fire shooting out of this type of chimney 10' when it finally catches. Horrifying for the owner. Don't talk about Option A anymore.
bholler has good advice and knows code. Listen to him.
You have a nice setup inside.
It appears the horizontal run is sloping down into the wall. Maybe an optical...
If it can be made to slope up a little that would be better.
Betterer yet, go with two 45's. Less restriction, so I'm told.

So, how does anyone know if the thimble does not have the proper clearances to combustibles?
The thimble can be removed with minimal damage to the mortar that can be covered with metal trim ring.
But how do you know it is a problem?
And if you knock the old chimney down, you get to it from the outside.

 

[Rob_Red]

This site is amazing I would have probably had a bad chimney fire with out all of the great info available.

The only reason I am suspicious of the thimble is because the rest of the chimney is very poorly done and I don't know what is under that stone veneer but as you can see the stone goes right up to the connection and they are stuck to something... so I have no idea whats in there.

also the current connection is horizontal and not angled at all even though it looks that way.

 

[bholler]

This site is amazing I would have probably had a bad chimney fire with out all of the great info available.

The only reason I am suspicious of the thimble is because the rest of the chimney is very poorly done and I don't know what is under that stone veneer but as you can see the stone goes right up to the connection and they are stuck to something... so I have no idea whats in there.

also the current connection is horizontal and not angled at all even though it looks that way.

You can usually tell from outside. The crock needs 12" of solid masonry surrounding it. If siding is closer than that on the outside it is very unlikely that it was done properly unless there is an insulated thimble burried in there

 

[PA Mountain Man]

"Most of all I want peace of mind that I have the safest possible setup"

I went back and looked at pics from your previous post. The inside of the chimney does not look to be poorly constructed and it appears the thimble extends from the room into the chimney. The crack in the thimble could be a result of differential settlement between the house wall and the chimney. Or something else. Can't tell from limited info.
Can you send outside pics of the chimney from the ground to the roof?

 

[Rob_Red]

Talked with the chimney builder last night right now we are swinging in the direction of going with class a.

I like how I can take a look at it at any point and know if it’s working properly or if there is an issue that needs to be addressed because it’s all exposed. Also cleaning can’t be any easier. I guess that’s the engineer in me coming out!

Does anyone have a picture of ventis chimney in powder coat?

We are considering the bronze color.

 

[begreen]

 

[Rob_Red]

Has anyone seen how this powder coating holds up?

 

[bholler]

Has anyone seen how this powder coating holds up?

We havnt had any fail yet but they have only been doing it 5 or 6 years