Easy fix for damaged chimney

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Thought I would share this
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So...just wondering....if this damage was from a fire, the insurance company would have (should have) paid to have the chimney rebuilt to code and return the residence back to the condition it was in prior to the "event". Why did they not go that direction? (I'm assuming they had insurance.)
 
So...just wondering....if this damage was from a fire, the insurance company would have (should have) paid to have the chimney rebuilt to code and return the residence back to the condition it was in prior to the "event". Why did they not go that direction? (I'm assuming they had insurance.)
The poster works in california where masonry chimneys are less desirable due to seismic considerations. That is my only thought on the reasoning
 
It would have cost more to rebuild a masonarry chimney. May have to take out complete fireplace and start over because not knowing if the original footing would hold the weight of just rebuild chimney.
And yes just to put a insert in would have been less appealing to have a brick chimney. And no real need.
Total time to repair and install insert about 10 hours. Would have been days to rebuild.
 
It would have cost more to rebuild a masonarry chimney. May have to take out complete fireplace and start over because not knowing if the original footing would hold the weight of just rebuild chimney.
And yes just to put a insert in would have been less appealing to have a brick chimney. And no real need.
Total time to repair and install insert about 10 hours. Would have been days to rebuild.
Yes but wouldnt have insurance paid for that? If it was me and insurance was paying i would want the masonry back. But thats just me. This is a good solution though for many people infact we did one today.
 
Yes but wouldnt have insurance paid for that? If it was me and insurance was paying i would want the masonry back. But thats just me. This is a good solution though for many people infact we did one today.
As long as it's done to code then there shouldn't be an issue.

The question has never been about time or cost, it's been whether the insurance company should pay for replacing it as it was originally constructed. The insurance company may have very well paid for a full rebuild but the homeowner could have done it this way and put the extra in his pocket too.
 
As long as it's done to code then there shouldn't be an issue.

The question has never been about time or cost, it's been whether the insurance company should pay for replacing it as it was originally constructed. The insurance company may have very well paid for a full rebuild but the homeowner could have done it this way and put the extra in his pocket too.
Yeah i thought that to. Insurance companies can get pretty upset when you do stuff like that to.
 
Ins. Co's don't care what you do with the money once the claim is settled. But, if another issue happened, and the what was paid for was not replaced, they would only pay for what work was done the second time around. And if the house was a total loss for whatever reason, they would deduct the work that was paid for, and not done, from the homes value at time of settlement. Many ins co's will also charge betterment up to 50% if the original was failing, deteriorated etc to start with.
 
The complete fireplace would have to be rebuild.
Homeowner did not want that or a ugly chimney.
Insurance paid for what was quoted to fix like we did.
 
The complete fireplace would have to be rebuild.
Homeowner did not want that or a ugly chimney.
Insurance paid for what was quoted to fix like we did.
Why would the whole thing have needed rebuilt to redo the top but it didnt to add class a? It is probably just a difference in preference by area. Here it would be a hard sell for most to forgo a masonry chimney for a prefab one.
 
Why would the whole thing have needed rebuilt to redo the top but it didnt to add class a? It is probably just a difference in preference by area. Here it would be a hard sell for most to forgo a masonry chimney for a prefab one.
Because the original fireplace was build wrong. Would NOT be safe to use as a open fireplace and would not hold up if just rebuilding the top.
We do have earthquake codes.
 
Because the original fireplace was build wrong. Would NOT be safe to use as a open fireplace and would not hold up if just rebuilding the top.
We do have earthquake codes.
Ok but what does that have to do with rebuilding the top?
 
Repair with class A chimney is much lighter than rebuild with masonry.
The base would have to be rebuild correctly to hold the weight and be up to earthquake building code.